{
  "id": 14255986,
  "title": "No, Ukraine's strikes on Yandex data centers didn't cripple Russian influence ops",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/13/no-ukraines-strikes-on-yandex-data-centers-didnt-cripple-russian",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-13T17:31:46.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Kyiv Independent",
    "slug": "kyiv-independent",
    "url": "https://kyivindependent.com/no-ukraines-strikes-on-yandex-data-centers-didnt-cripple-russian-influence-ops/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Ukrainian drone strikes against Yandex data centers in Russia did not cripple Russian influence operations, according to experts. The strikes, which occurred from October 9 to 11, 2024, resulted in a shutdown of the Yandex data center in Vladimir Oblast and disruptions to various online services within Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had also commented on the perceived decrease in Russian bots' activity online. However, there is no data supporting the claim that the attacks on Yandex disrupted Moscow-backed disinformation and influence operations.\n\nThe confusion stems from a chart by Cloudflare showing a drop in bot activity from Yandex's network to 54.7% following a Ukrainian strike in Ryazan Oblast, and further to 0.3% after a strike in Vladimir Oblast. This chart, though, reflects automated web page requests from Yandex's own infrastructure, primarily its search crawlers, which are not related to activity by Russian bots or trolls on social media.\n\nRoman Osadchuk, director of Threat Intelligence at the tech company LetsData, acknowledges a minor dip in social media comments and posts during the weekend after the strikes. However, he considers this to be a coincidence, possibly due to technical issues or lower output from the weekend shift at the troll/bot farms.\n\nMajor fact-checking organizations and disinformation-monitoring groups did not report a radical drop in Russian disinformation activity on social media after the strikes. While some European officials reported receiving exclusive information from Poland's internal security service about a decline in Russian bot activity, no such data has been published. Local disinformation monitors also reported no significant decrease in activity by disinformation accounts between September 30 and October 11 in Poland.\n\nStriking Russian servers would not silence trolls, as Russian disinformation operates in decentralized networks of proxies abroad, not from Russian data centers. Some disinformation groups, such as Storm-1516, are likely neutral commercial engagement-for-hire providers rather than state-affiliated networks. Misstating the impact of Ukrainian strikes on Russian data centers could create a false sense of victory while the true threat remains unaddressed.",
  "summary": "Ukrainian drone strikes against Russian data centers sparked viral claims about a sudden drop in Russian influence operations on social media — even as experts see no evidence to support this. Kyiv struck data centers run by Yandex — Russia's \"answer to Google\" — in three different regions between Oct. 9 and 11, a response to Russian strikes against similar facilities in Ukraine. Yandex…",
  "key_points": [
    "Strikes resulted in shutdown of Vladimir Oblast data center and disruptions to online services.",
    "No data supports claim that attacks disrupted Moscow-backed disinformation and influence operations."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 6,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "UATV English",
        "title": "Strikes On Russian Data Centers Could Reduce Accuracy Of Attacks On Ukraine",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/13/strikes-on-russian-data-centers-could-reduce-accuracy-of-attacks-on",
        "published": "2026-10-13T16:07:00.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Le Monde English",
        "title": "Ukraine strikes on Russian data centers disrupt online services",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/13/ukraine-strikes-on-russian-data-centers-disrupt-online-services",
        "published": "2026-10-13T16:40:05.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Interfax-Ukraine",
        "title": "Trump links Russian shelling of Ukraine after announced ceasefire to Ukrainian strikes day earlier",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/13/trump-links-russian-shelling-of-ukraine-after-announced-ceasefire-to",
        "published": "2026-10-13T17:24:36.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Kyiv Independent",
        "title": "'Even isolated Shahed strikes cause power and water outages' — Zelensky criticizes Kyiv's preparedness for Russian attacks",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/13/even-isolated-shahed-strikes-cause-power-and-water-outages-zelensky",
        "published": "2026-10-13T17:56:23.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The Verge",
        "title": "Russian bot farms are still trolling, even after Ukraine’s drone strikes on Yandex",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/13/russian-bot-farms-are-still-trolling-even-after-ukraines-drone",
        "published": "2026-10-13T18:31:31.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}