- Russian concerns about Ukraine drone strikes have prompted a review of data center resilience to strikes
- Defense measures include anti-drone nets, signal jamming hardware, and even camouflage
- The Digital Development Ministry has also proposed moving facilities underground
Ukraine’s increasing targeting of Russian data infrastructure has resulted in Moscow considering new defensive measures against drone strikes.
The Digital Development Ministry has proposed a list of countermeasures and precautions against attack, ranging from jamming hardware and camouflage to building subterranean data centers.
With experts warning that a data center outage could leave a facility value wiped by up to 87%, Russia is taking steps to protect is cloud and AI facilities. But such action could increase costs for each facility by around 10%.
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Pushing up the potential cost of future data centers, safety measures include protection against shockwaves for servers, power supplies, and cooling systems.
Drone strike risk
Throughout 2026, Ukraine has stepped up its retaliatory strikes against Russian industrial assets, most recently with five data centers targeted in October. Among these was country’s largest facility, based in Balakovo and owned by Sberbank.
Others targeted include three data centers owned by Yandex. At the time, Sberbank First Deputy CEO Alexander Vedyakhin told reporters that “We confirm that the data processing center was attacked. At the same time, all of Sberbank’s systems and services are operating normally and without disruption.”
The Digital Development Ministry recommendations were seen by Russian publication Kommersant, which noted that the ministry had confirmed “The development of recommendations has been completed, the document […] sent to the relevant organizations.”
It appears that the document was initially circulated on October 21 2026, possibly in response to the Balakovo data center strike, and certainly as a reaction to the wider concerns. Kommersant indicates that Russian businesses and citizens are concerned about Ukraine’s targeting of internet infrastructure.
Months of downtime
Not all data centers are considered to be equal within the plans, which divide the facilities into three categories. K1 indicates strategic targets, K2 is economic targets, while K3 is a signifier of a corporate site.
While the exact strategies for each category is unknown, it seems likely that the K1 targets would be subjected to the largest defensive measures. While it might be costly to install shockwave protection, anti-drone nets and signal jammers are likely more affordable elements.
The cost of installing shelters and other protections is preferable to the alternative, according to Roman Chustuzian, senior investment director of KAMA FLOW, who told Kommersant: “Even if shelters, grids, sensors and duplication of connections add 5-10% to the cost of the object, it is not comparable with the loss of 87% of its cost and months of downtime.”
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Christian Cawley
