Russia Says 493 Drones Headed Toward Moscow: Russia said that it had intercepted hundreds of Ukrainian drones overnight on October 13-14.
Moscow’s airports temporarily suspended flights, and a major Sberbank data center was struck hundreds of miles from its border with Ukraine.
Putin Back in 2025 Creative Commons Photo
Putin Back in 2010 Creative Commons Image
The attack follows three strikes on Russian technology company Yandex’s data centers in four days. Meanwhile, a fire at an oil terminal in Rostov-on-Don continued to burn on Wednesday, according to independent Russian investigators.
Moscow Airports Shut Down as Russia Claims 902 Interceptions
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that 493 drones were heading toward the Moscow region between 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and 7 a.m. Wednesday.
He said air defenses neutralized most on the distant approaches, while another 180 were destroyed as they approached Moscow.
Russia’s Defense Ministry separately claimed to have shot down 902 Ukrainian drones across 19 Russian regions and Russian-occupied Crimea. That figure covers the wider attack, rather than 902 additional drones on top of those reported around Moscow. The claims could not be independently verified.
Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky airports temporarily suspended arrivals and departures. Vnukovo’s closure lasted more than eight hours, with dozens of flights diverted.
Sberbank Confirms Strike on Balakovo Data Center
In Balakovo, in Russia’s Saratov region, Governor Roman Busargin said a woman was killed and several residential buildings were damaged. He subsequently insisted that all infrastructure facilities in the city were operating normally.
But Sberbank First Deputy CEO Alexander Vedyakhin confirmed a strike on the bank’s unfinished data processing center.
“We confirm that the data processing center was attacked,” he told reporters. He added that the bank’s services were operating normally and “without disruption,” according to Reuters.
The facility, a 122.2 billion-ruble project begun in 2021, is designed to hold approximately 3,000 server racks and up to 120,000 servers, with a planned power capacity of 82 megawatts. It was also intended to host Russia’s largest supercomputer.
On Wednesday, no confirmed assessment of damage to computing equipment was made. Neither Sberbank nor Yandex has established whether any supercomputers were damaged in the recent attacks.
Ukrainian monitoring channel Exilenova+ published footage that it said showed the Balakovo strike. Ukrainian weapons manufacturer Fire Point also suggested that the attack followed the earlier strikes against Yandex.
A separate reported strike near the MZ Balakovo steelworks remains unconfirmed.
Yandex Strikes Leave Russian Services Disrupted
Yandex itself confirmed attacks on its Sasovo, Kaluga and Vladimir data centers on October 8, 9 and 11, respectively. Sasovo and Vladimir stopped operating, while Kaluga lost part of its infrastructure.
The company calls its data centers its “iron heart.” Its statement acknowledged that “every outage means disrupted plans” for customers, while Yandex Cloud warned that “the platform is operating in emergency mode.”
Dima Pirogov, head of Yandex’s financial technology division, told affected customers: “I’m very sorry I can’t tell you yet that everything is working again.”
He added: “We can’t give you a precise timeline for the restoration yet.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov conceded Tuesday that Yandex was “currently facing difficulties” and that the government was discussing the situation.
He nevertheless insisted that “the company is strong and powerful.”
Rostov Oil Terminal Ablaze
Video analyzed by independent Russian outlet Astra indicated that at least eight of 12 storage tanks at the NZNP oil-loading terminal in Rostov-on-Don had been damaged.
The fire initially erupted after a drone attack early on October 10.
The huge terminal handles up to 3.5 million metric tons of petroleum products every year. It has reportedly supplied fuel to the Russian military.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian attacks damaged 30 energy facilities and left at least 600,000 people without electricity overnight.
“The strike was entirely deliberate and demonstrative in its scale,” Zelenskyy said, accusing Moscow of showing “ostentatious disrespect toward the United States.”
“Russia does not consider the American President’s statements strong,” he added, Reuters said.
Last week, Trump claimed via his Truth Social platform that both sides agreed to an energy ceasefire at his behest. Despite this, neither Moscow nor Kyiv has confirmed a bilateral agreement, and heavy fighting has continued.
At the Warsaw Security Forum on Monday, Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine would respect a mutual energy ceasefire if Russia agreed, noting, “We agree if they agree.”
“It was clear that Putin does not read Truth Social,” Zelenskyy said, referring to Russian attacks that began hours after Trump’s announcement.
About the Author: Georgia Gilholy
Georgia Gilholy is a journalist based in the United Kingdom who has been published in Newsweek, The Times of Israel, and the Spectator. Gilholy writes about international politics, culture, and education.
