A drone attack on Sberbank’s data center in Russia’s Saratov region was followed by widespread online service disruptions, amid strikes targeting other major data centers.
The data center has a total area of more than 55,000 square meters. This was reported by ZN.ua.
The attack on Russia’s Saratov region damaged Sberbank’s regional data center in Balakovo. The facility was still under construction, although its first phase was already operational, and all work was scheduled for completion by 2030, according to analysts from the Ukrainian OSINT community CyberBoroshno in their Telegram channel.
It is noted that construction permits for phases two through eight were issued in late 2024, meaning that most of the complex was still in the early stages of construction at the time. The data center has a total area of more than 55,000 square meters and consists of seven modules, each containing 500 racks with a capacity of 12–15 kW per rack. It can accommodate up to 120,000 servers.
Analysts say the center was planned as Sberbank’s first regional data center as part of a program to establish a network of such facilities. According to the developers, it was intended to become the largest in Russia, while local authorities described it as a potential leader in Europe as well. Construction costs are estimated at 122.2 billion rubles, or approximately $1.4 billion.
Sberbank later confirmed the attack on its data center in the Saratov region. The bank’s first deputy chairman, Aleksandr Vedyakhin, said that all the company’s services “continue to operate as usual.”
Meanwhile, ASTRA reports that Russia has experienced another major internet outage, according to data from monitoring websites. Disruptions affected Sberbank and its services, including Samokat and GigaChat. Users have also reported problems with Mail.ru, Tochka Bank, Ozon, VK, Yandex, and other platforms.
Russia has also begun targeting Ukrainian data centers — large facilities housing servers and networking equipment that support websites, online platforms, and internet service providers.
In particular, on September 23, drones struck the Parkovy Convention and Exhibition Center in Kyiv twice in one day, where a data center was operating. The building sustained significant damage, and on October 1, the facility announced a complete shutdown due to critical damage to its equipment.
On September 25–26, Russian forces attacked the data center of telecommunications operator Cosmonova.net in Kyiv. Following the strike, some Ukrainian television channels lost their signal. The Kyiv headquarters of mobile operator Kyivstar was also targeted.
Meanwhile, on October 8, the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked a Yandex data center in Sasovo, in Russia’s Ryazan region, triggering widespread disruptions to several services. On October 9, Russian media reported a drone attack on another Yandex facility in Kaluga, where several modules completely ceased operating.
