Yandex bot traffic plunges after Ukrainian strikes on Russian data centers, fueling disinformation debate
Automated web traffic from Russia's Yandex network has plunged to just 0.4% of its recent peak following Ukrainian drone strikes on the company's data centers, according to Cloudflare data cited by Tom's Hardware. The sharp decline has prompted claims that Russian online influence operations have also been disrupted, although the available figures do not establish that link.
Russian technology giant Yandex has suffered major service disruptions following Ukrainian drone strikes on three of its data centers, accompanied by a dramatic decline in automated web traffic originating from its network.
According to cybersecurity company Cloudflare, as reported by Tom's Hardware, automated HTTP requests from Yandex's network fell to just 0.4% of the highest level recorded over the preceding two weeks. Traffic initially dropped to around 57% of that peak following the first reported strike on Oct. 8.
The attacks reportedly targeted Yandex facilities in Russia's Ryazan Oblast on Oct. 8, Kaluga Oblast on Oct. 9 and Vladimir Oblast on Oct. 11.
Yandex reported extensive disruptions to its services. Internet monitoring organization NetBlocks recorded traffic declines affecting Yandex infrastructure, while Russian media reported outages affecting commercial services and government systems.
The strikes followed Russian attacks on Ukrainian data centers, including a September strike that disrupted services operated by Kyiv-based internet provider Cosmonova and temporarily affected Ukrainian media outlets.
Did Russian propaganda bots disappear?
The sharp drop in automated traffic has prompted speculation that the strikes may also have disrupted Russian disinformation operations on social media.
Speaking by video link at the Warsaw Security Forum on Oct. 12, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that social media platforms had become noticeably less hostile after the attacks.
He said there appeared to be fewer bots, provocations and divisive messages, arguing that their disappearance following disruptions to Yandex indicated where some of the activity had originated.
Czech Member of the European Parliament Tomáš Zdechovský also drew attention to a reported decline in online activity surrounding Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
“If confirmed, this is telling: Russian data centres get hit, and online activity around AfD suddenly plummets,” Zdechovský wrote on X.
He shared a chart suggesting a sharp decline in daily activity, but its original source and methodology were not identified. German technology outlet Rohtext, cited by Ukrainian publication NV, said it had not established a connection between the data center strikes and the reported decline. It also noted that online activity surrounding other German political parties had fallen over the weekend.
French newspaper Le Parisien reported that the outages had fueled similar speculation about online activity supporting US President Donald Trump and Britain's Reform UK party. However, the available reporting did not establish that the observed changes were caused by the Yandex disruptions.
What the Cloudflare figures actually show
The distinction matters because the term bot does not necessarily refer to a fake social media account or a tool used to spread propaganda.
In computing, bots are automated programs that perform tasks without constant human intervention. They include legitimate services such as search-engine crawlers and automated monitoring tools, as well as malicious software and accounts used to manipulate online discussions.
Cloudflare's data concerns automated web requests originating from Yandex's network. It does not directly measure the number of Russian propaganda accounts on X or other social media platforms, nor does it identify the political content those accounts publish.
The timing of the traffic collapse and the reported changes in social media activity may warrant further investigation, but the available evidence does not establish a causal relationship between the two.
Disruptions extend beyond social media
The impact of the data center strikes has also been reported in ordinary internet services.
According to NV, disruptions affected users and businesses in Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus and Armenia, including retail, delivery, banking and transport applications.
Two Russian state systems operated by agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor, used for veterinary oversight and pesticide tracking, reportedly switched to emergency operating modes.
Yandex said infrastructure at its Vladimir data center had been damaged in a drone attack, interrupting operations and leaving other resources unstable.
The outages illustrate how damage to major data centers can affect a broad range of digital services. Whether the same disruptions have substantially weakened Russian online influence campaigns remains an open question.