Ukrainian drones have struck Russia’s largest data centre, owned by the country’s biggest bank and technology company, Sberbank, but its operations remain unaffected, a senior executive said on Wednesday.
The attack occurred in the Saratov region along the Volga River, following three drone strikes in the past week on data centres owned by Russian technology group Yandex.
Ukraine has said its attacks are in response to Russian strikes on its own data facilities.
“We confirm that the data processing centre was attacked. At the same time, all of Sberbank’s systems and services are operating normally and without disruption,” Sberbank’s First Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Alexander Vedyakhin, told said.
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Sberbank and Yandex are Russia’s leading domestic developers of artificial intelligence (AI), with the market largely shared between Sberbank’s GigaChat and YandexGPT models.
Both companies have invested heavily in developing their AI systems but remain up to nine months behind global leaders in the United States and China. Western sanctions have contributed to the gap by restricting Russia’s access to advanced hardware.
Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti, reported in 2024 that the Sberbank facility targeted in Balakovo covers 55,000 square metres and is expected to house the country’s largest supercomputer, scheduled to begin operations in 2027.
The facility is located near the Balakovo nuclear power plant and the Saratov hydroelectric power plant.
Neither Sberbank nor Yandex has disclosed whether any supercomputers were damaged in the Ukrainian attacks.
