Ukraine takes aim at Russia’s AI data infrastructure

What the report says

Ukraine’s drone campaign appears to be expanding beyond military and energy targets to include Russia’s digital infrastructure, according to Al Jazeera’s reporting on Oct. 9, 2026. The article says strikes hit two Yandex data hubs in separate incidents, partly disabling one AI-related centre in the Kaluga region and forcing a shutdown at another site in Sasovo, in the Ryazan region, where supercomputers used to train the company’s models are located.

Yandex, a major Russian tech company closely watched by the state and widely used for everyday apps and online services, said the attacks affected the core of its operations and that staff were working to keep services running. The report notes that the company is important to Russia’s AI development efforts, making the strikes significant beyond the immediate damage to buildings and equipment.

Al Jazeera also reported that Ukraine continued hitting facilities tied to missile production and oil refining. Ukrainian officials said strikes overnight targeted three missile-related sites, while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a refinery belonging to Lukoil in Ukhta was also hit. These attacks fit Kyiv’s broader aim of reducing Russia’s ability to launch missile and drone strikes and to sustain its war economy.

The article places the latest attacks in the wider back-and-forth war on infrastructure, with Russia also continuing strikes on Ukrainian cities and utilities. That context suggests both sides are trying to disrupt each other’s logistics, communications and industrial capacity, not only front-line forces.