Ukrainian drone strikes hit Russian data centers across six regions — forcing companies into Kazakhstan as Putin orders emergency capacity seizure

Ukrainian drone strikes targeting Russian data centers across six European regions have forced companies to seek alternative data center locations abroad, with Kazakhstan and Belarus emerging as popular choices. The attacks disrupted facilities belonging to major Russian organizations, including Yandex, VK, Sberbank, and the Federal Tax Service, prompting companies to explore backup computing infrastructure options.

With cloud capacity at peak levels and limited domestic spare capacity, Russian companies are increasingly looking to relocate their data centers to neighboring countries. Kazakhstan has become particularly attractive due to its robust infrastructure, while Belarus is also being considered, primarily for hosting artificial intelligence and backup systems.

Some businesses have already begun transferring workloads to these external locations, although the extent of these moves remains unclear. The October 2026 drone strikes affected facilities in the Vladimir, Kaluga, Leningrad, Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, and Saratov regions, all situated in European Russia. Moscow currently possesses only about 50 megawatts of unused data center capacity, which could accommodate only a few large commercial facilities, creating significant pressure on companies seeking additional domestic hosting options.

In response to the situation, President Vladimir Putin has ordered privately operated data centers to allocate 10% of their capacity for Russian information services, providing the state with a mechanism to redirect privately controlled computing resources during emergencies.