Ukrainian drones hit Yandex data centre, Moscow airports and Rostov sites in coordinated raid
Ukrainian drones struck a Yandex data centre in Vladimir Oblast, shut down airspace over Moscow airports and damaged facilities in Rostov Oblast overnight.
Ukrainian drone operations on Oct. 16 targeted a series of sites in Russia’s Moscow, Vladimir and Rostov regions. Monitoring channels ExileNova+ and SuperNova+ identified a strike on Yandex’s data centre in Vladimir Oblast, about 500 km from the Ukrainian border, leading the company to halt operations after a prior attack on Oct. 11. In Moscow, air defenses engaged more than 59 drones, forcing the temporary closure of airspace over Vnukovo, Domodedovo, Zhukovsky and Sheremetyevo airports, according to the opposition channel Astra and statements from Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
Residents reported explosions and flames lighting the night sky. Further south, Governor Yuri Slusar said drones damaged production and storage facilities in the town of Aksay, ignited a fire, and also struck the Chertkovsky district and the city of Bataysk. The coordinated attacks echo President Volodymyr Zelensky’s vow to retaliate against Russian strikes on Ukrainian internet infrastructure.
Why it matters
The raids show Ukraine’s expanding ability to hit Russian civilian and tech infrastructure, raising regional security tensions.
How this story developed
- Sep 17 Humanitarian collapse grips Russian-occupied Oleshky as food, medicine and evacuations halt
- Sep 25 A Ukrainian artilleryman’s wife and their two daughters live in Boryspil while he serves on the front in Donetsk, facing both battlefield danger and increasing missile attacks on their city.
- Sep 26 Russia has refused ICRC‑facilitated evacuations for Oleshky residents.
- Sep 28 The last ground convoy reached Oleshky on May 26, and no further deliveries have been reported.
- Oct 11 Recent Russian drone and missile raids have struck apartments near the family’s home in Boryspil.
In this story
Related stories
22 in this thread