Zelensky links Yandex strikes to drop in automated accounts

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that social media platforms have become noticeably less hostile following targeted strikes on Yandex data centers. He noted that the decline in automated account activity reflected a change in the nature of online discussions.

Speaking at the Warsaw Security Forum, Zelensky explained that the atmosphere on social networks calmed down after Ukraine began responding to Russian operations targeting its own data infrastructure. These retaliatory measures extended to facilities operated by Yandex.

The president observed that many users noticed a reduction in hate speech, polarization, and provocations. He attributed this shift to a decrease in the number of automated accounts. Zelensky argued that the disappearance of these bots coincided with the suspension of Yandex services, reinforcing his view that the source of such activities was not European.

Yandex data centers under attack

Euro News reported that Ukrainian drones targeted three data centers operated by Yandex over the past few days. The company is frequently described as the Russian equivalent of Google.

The affected facilities are located in Sasovo in Ryazan Oblast, Kaluga Oblast southwest of Moscow, and Vladimir Oblast east of the Russian capital. The most recent incident occurred on Sunday.

The attacks damaged the company’s infrastructure and disrupted its services. Yandex confirmed it suspended operations at the Vladimir data center following a drone strike.

In a statement published via the Telegram application, the firm detailed that the assault caused infrastructure damage at the facility. It added that operations halted completely and remaining resources became unstable, leading to platform outages.

Data traffic analysis findings

Analysis from Cloudflare Radar indicated that automated data traffic originating from the Yandex network dropped by approximately 94% on Sunday. This figure compares against average levels recorded during the second half of September.

This dataset includes legitimate automated traffic, such as search engine crawlers. Consequently, the statistics do not prove that Kremlin-linked bot farms suspected of influencing political debates were specifically impacted by the strikes.