Russian bot traffic decimated overnight after Ukraine drone strikes knock multiple Yandex data centers offline

Ukrainian drone strikes have successfully disabled multiple Yandex data centers in Central Russia, leading to a significant collapse in internet bot traffic. The attacks, which targeted facilities in Sasovo and surrounding areas, have left Yandex’s cloud services with limited functionality and many search engine services offline. Reports indicate that traffic for the platform has plummeted to just 0.4% of its recent peak. While often associated with propaganda, the affected bot traffic primarily consists of automated crawlers and data-gathering tools for AI platforms. This incident highlights the increasing vulnerability of critical digital infrastructure in modern warfare, as data centers become primary targets for military intelligence and communications disruption. Experts suggest that these events underscore the urgent need for greater decentralization and redundancy in cloud infrastructure to maintain operational continuity during geopolitical conflicts.