Central Asian Apps Suffer Successive Outages Caused by Ukrainian Attacks on Data Centers

Digital service apps in Central Asian countries linked to Russian IT firm Yandex are malfunctioning after its data centers inside Russia were hit by Ukrainian drone attacks.

According to The Times of Central Asia (TCA) on the 13th, digital services such as ride-hailing and food delivery apps in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan are failing to function properly due to the strikes on Yandex data centers.

Previously, three data centers operated by Yandex, often referred to as Russia's Google, were targeted by Ukrainian drone attacks between the 8th and 11th.

A data center in Sasovo, Ryazan Oblast, in central Russia, located about 180 kilometers southeast of the capital Moscow, was attacked first and completely halted operations.

This center houses two supercomputers dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI) development.

Subsequently, another data center in Kaluga Oblast, central Russia, had some of its equipment disabled by a drone strike.

On the 11th, a data center in Vladimir Oblast, central Russia, was also attacked and suspended operations.

Yandex stated that it is assessing the damage caused by the drone attacks and confirmed there were no injuries.

While the company has initiated recovery efforts, it remains unknown when the functions of the damaged equipment will be restored.

The fallout from the strikes on Yandex data centers quickly spread beyond Russia into the Central Asian region.

On the 11th, ride-hailing and food and grocery delivery services through the Yandex app malfunctioned in Kazakhstan.

Yandex Kazakhstan acknowledged these technical issues.

While the ride-hailing service became available by the evening of that day, some features still remained non-functional.

Similar situations unfolded in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

In these countries, users flooded reporting channels regarding errors with the Yandex app, particularly concerning ride-hailing services.

The exact extent of the damage caused by this incident in these Central Asian nations has not yet been disclosed.

Observers note that this incident has laid bare how heavily the digital economies of Central Asian countries rely on the Russian side.

(Photo: Capture from The Times of Central Asia, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.