Moscow (AFP) – A drone hit a data centre belonging to the Russian state-owned lender Sberbank, a company executive said Wednesday, though the bank’s systems and services were operating normally. Sberbank is Russia’s largest bank by assets and number of clients. The attack appeared to be the latest in a retaliatory campaign of Ukrainian strikes targeting Russian internet infrastructure.
Yandex, Russia’s largest technology company, has reported at least three drone strikes on its data centres since the start of the month. “We confirm the attack on the data centre,” Sberbank’s deputy chairman Alexander Vedyakhin was quoted as saying by the TASS state-owned news agency, which said the data centre was in the southern city of Balakovo. “All Sberbank systems and services are operating normally,” he added.
A Ukrainian drone strike on Balakovo killed one person, the region’s governor, Roman Busargin, said on social media early Wednesday. Ukraine, which made no immediate comment, fired over 900 drones at Russia and the annexed Crimean peninsula overnight, according to Russia’s defence ministry. The attack comes as both Moscow and Kyiv intensify their long-range strikes, with Moscow pounding Ukrainian data centres and logistics hubs in recent months.
© 2024 AFP
