Russia’s Sberbank confirms drone attack on Balakovo data center

A drone attack on Balakovo in Russia's Saratov region damaged several residential buildings and killed one person, regional governor Roman Busargin said on the morning of October 14, according to UAWire.

The Ukrainian monitoring channel Supernova+ claimed the attack hit a Sberbank data center that is still under construction. OSINT analysis by Astra also pointed to damage at the Sberbank data center building, based on photographs from the scene. Astra said a warehouse of unknown purpose, located about 200 meters away, was also damaged. Later, Sberbank confirmed to TASS that its Balakovo data center had been targeted. "We confirm the attack on the data processing center. However, all Sberbank systems and services are operating normally," said Alexander Vedyakhin, first deputy chairman of Sberbank's management board.

A video filmed by witnesses showed a bright flash following an explosion. The blast caused electricity to go out in several nearby homes. The explosion occurred near an industrial zone that includes CHPP-4, an electrical distribution substation, and a railcar factory. Power outages in the neighboring residential block could indicate the substation was damaged.

A memorandum to build the Sberbank data center in Balakovo was signed in December 2020 between the Saratov region government, Sberbank, and Rosseti. According to the plan, the Balakovo data center is set to become the largest in Russia. The 60,000-square-meter site is designed to house around 120,000 servers, with construction expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2027.

• Tags:
• Sberbank
• Russian-Ukrainian war