GoKawiilRussia moves to bury data centers underground after Ukrainian drone strikes
Ukrainian drone strikes have damaged Russian data centers belonging to Yandex, Sberbank, VKontakte and the Ministry of Finance, prompting Russian firms to explore underground facilities. State telecom Rostelcom is in talks with mining company Norilsk about relocating centers below ground, and a regional governor has proposed building them in open-pit coal mines disguised with parks above. Putin also signed a decree on November 2 requiring operators to reserve 10 percent of capacity for emergency state use, and authorized potential reliance on foreign data centers.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The scramble suggests Russia's cloud and AI computing infrastructure is more exposed to Ukrainian strikes than previously assumed, potentially affecting both civilian services and military-linked AI projects. Putin's capacity-reservation decree could indicate the Kremlin anticipates further disruptions and wants guaranteed access to computing resources regardless of damage elsewhere. The underground and camouflage proposals point to a broader rethink of critical infrastructure resilience under wartime drone threats.
- Ukrainian drone strikes have disrupted major Russian data centers including Yandex and Sberbank facilities.
- Russian firms are considering underground and disguised data centers, including sites in mines.
- Putin's decree reserves 10% of data center capacity for state emergency use and allows foreign data center reliance.
Source: arstechnica.com, 2026-11-03
Published there as: “Ukraine’s drone strikes spur hasty Russian plans for underground data centers”
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