Ukrainian drone strikes have plunged Russia’s internet into crisis. Meduza explains why the damage has been so extensive, and why a full recovery will likely take months. - Meduza

Key Points:

• Ukrainian forces launched a third consecutive drone strike on Yandex data centers in Russia, targeting facilities in the Vladimir, Ryazan, and Kaluga regions, causing widespread internet outages and disrupting essential services like Yandex Go, Yandex Eats, and Yandex Pay.
• Yandex's infrastructure, heavily relied upon by many Russian companies for data storage, was not designed to withstand drone attacks, leading to significant capacity loss after three data centers were hit, with the company now operating in emergency mode and running out of spare capacity.
• Russian laws require companies to store certain data domestically, limiting options for backing up data abroad and forcing reliance on vulnerable Russian data centers; Yandex has advised customers to seek backup capacity from other Russian providers like Selectel, K2Cloud, and VK Cloud.
• Despite prior warnings and discussions about the vulnerability of data centers to drone strikes, protective measures were insufficient, and the attacks have exposed critical weaknesses in Russia's digital infrastructure, with recovery expected to take months due to equipment shortages and repair challenges.
• The ongoing strikes have caused billions of rubles in daily losses across Yandex and other affected companies, and further attacks on remaining data centers could deepen the crisis, potentially forcing the Russian IT industry to invest in more resilient, distributed, or mobile data center solutions to mitigate future risks.