Ukrainian drones targeted a major data center for Russian state lender Sberbank, which was under construction in the Saratov region, overnight, First Deputy CEO Alexander Vedyakhin said Wednesday.
Vedyakhin said that all banking systems and online services continued to operate normally and that no employees were injured in the attack on the Volga River city of Balakovo, according to the state-run news agency TASS.
NASA’s satellite imagery showed multiple fires in Balakovo.
Saratov region Governor Roman Busargin said “all infrastructure facilities” were operating normally, without identifying Sberbank’s data center as a target. He said one woman was killed and several homes were damaged in the drone strikes.
The attack on Sberbank follows three consecutive Ukrainian drone strikes that disabled half of tech giant Yandex’s data centers. Ukraine says it is responding to Russian attacks on its own data sites.
“You didn’t think it would stop with just Yandex, did you?” Ukraine’s Fire Point arms company said in a social media post on Wednesday morning.
Sberbank began construction of the 55,000-square-meter facility (592,000 square feet) in 2021, promoting the 122.2 billion ruble ($1.4 billion) project as one of Europe’s largest data centers, with completion expected in 2030.
Along with Yandex, its main domestic rival, Sberbank is Russia's leading developer of artificial intelligence. The domestic market is shared between Sberbank's GigaChat model and YandexGPT. State media reported in 2024 that Sberbank’s Balakovo center would host Russia’s biggest supercomputer, which was scheduled to go into operation in 2027.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defense systems destroyed 902 Ukrainian drones over 19 Russian regions and annexed Crimea between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said “most” of the 493 Ukrainian drones flying toward the region were neutralized, 180 of them on direct approach to the capital.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces struck seven Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities and a data center with ground-launched missiles and long-range strike drones overnight.
Reuters contributed reporting.
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