Millions of Russians faced problems accessing their money, booking taxis, ordering food, and even entering their homes after Ukrainian strikes disrupted data centres operated by Yandex, one of the biggest technology companies in Russia. The outages exposed how heavily people depend on digital services for their daily needs.
According to NBC News, the disruptions began after a series of attacks on Russian data centres earlier this month. Although many services have started returning to normal, some users reported difficulties accessing their money and savings for several days.
People struggle to access money
The outage caused serious problems for people who depended on Yandex Pay, a digital payment service used by many Russians.
Irina, a 21-year-old blogger from St. Petersburg, told NBC News that she could not access her money for four days. Her rent was due when the disruption began, and she initially expected the problem to be fixed within hours. However, she struggled to pay her bills and buy food for her young child.
She said the experience had taught her the importance of keeping money in different bank accounts and maintaining enough cash for emergencies.
Anastasiya Mityaeva, a 25-year-old influencer, also faced problems when her account and those of her mother and grandmother became inaccessible. Her family worried about making mortgage payments.
Mityaeva later regained access to her money. However, she also faced problems booking taxis, entering her apartment building and using her Yandex voice assistant to control lights and play music.
Taxi drivers and other services affected
The disruption also affected workers who depend on Yandex for their income. Three taxi drivers in Moscow told NBC News that they could not check their earnings or withdraw their money during the outage. One driver stopped working until the issue was resolved.
Valery, a 24-year-old driver from Krasnodar, said the taxi app displayed error messages and sometimes sent multiple cars to the same customer. Although these problems were largely resolved, he remained worried about accessing his earnings.
He warned that he would look for another job if he could not withdraw his money within a week or two.
Meanwhile, Viktoria, a 30-year-old barista from Moscow, said she planned to stop using Yandex after repeated problems. Although she regained access to Yandex Pay, the service was still showing an incorrect account balance.
Yandex also provides cloud storage and other services used by individuals and businesses across Russia.
Why Ukraine is targeting data centres
Yandex said on October 9 that no employees had been injured and that the company was working to restore its services. It described data centres as the core of its operations and said they were essential to services used in everyday life.
Security experts believe the attacks are part of Ukraine’s effort to make the effects of the war more visible to ordinary Russians. Keir Giles of British think tank Chatham House told NBC News that the strategy aims to make people feel the consequences of their country’s war.
Robert Tollast, a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute in London, said Yandex could also be a target because of its influence over online information. Data centres have military importance as well, since battlefield information and artificial intelligence can help improve military planning.
Data centres belonging to Sberbank, Russia’s biggest bank, and technology company VK have also been targeted in recent days.
Russian government responds
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said it was too early to discuss financial assistance for affected users, adding that Yandex was facing difficulties but remained a strong company.
Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev said authorities were examining ways to protect data centres following what he called an unprecedented attack. President Vladimir Putin also held a meeting on improving digital security, though Peskov said it was not connected to the strikes.
Ukraine has also accused Russia of attacking Ukrainian data centres and trying to cut internet access. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was responding with strikes on Russian facilities. NBC News could not verify his claim that the disruption reduced Russian bot activity on social media.
Ukrainian military analyst Mykhailo Samus said many Russian data centres are concentrated in a few large facilities, making them vulnerable to attacks that can disrupt several services at once. Ukraine’s data centres, by contrast, are more widely spread.
With the United States pressing Ukraine to stop attacks on Russian energy infrastructure and maintain diesel supplies to global markets, data centres have emerged as another target in the ongoing conflict.
