ASTANA/TASHKENT — Recent Ukrainian drone strikes targeting data centers belonging to Russian IT giant Yandex have triggered widespread digital service disruptions across Central Asia, exposing the region's heavy reliance on Russian digital infrastructure.

According to The Times of Central Asia, popular digital services—including taxi-hailing and food delivery apps in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan—malfunctioned following attacks on three Yandex data centers between October 8 and 11.

The wave of strikes began when a data center in Sasovo, located in Russia's central Ryazan region about 180 kilometers southeast of Moscow, was hit and completely halted operations. This facility housed two supercomputers dedicated to artificial intelligence development.

Subsequent drone attacks struck another data center in the Kaluga region, disabling some equipment, followed by a third facility in the Vladimir region on October 11, which also forced a shutdown.

Yandex confirmed the attacks and reported that no injuries occurred. While company engineers are working to restore systems, it remains uncertain when the damaged equipment will be fully operational.

Spillover Effects in Central Asia

The disruption quickly crossed Russian borders, heavily impacting neighboring Central Asian nations. On October 11, users in Kazakhstan experienced widespread failures when trying to use Yandex apps for taxi rides, food delivery, and grocery shopping.

Yandex Kazakhstan acknowledged the technical glitches. Although taxi-hailing services were partially recovered by evening, several features remained offline. Similar chaos unfolded in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, where users flooded support channels with complaints of error codes and service failures on Yandex platforms.

The exact economic toll on these Central Asian countries has not yet been quantified. However, analysts note that the incident vividly highlights the deep digital economic dependence these nations place on Russian tech infrastructure.

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