Russia
Ukrainian drones struck a data center operated by Sberbank in the city of Balakovo in the Saratov region overnight on October 14. Ukrainian monitoring channels were the first to report the attack. Saratov Governor Roman Busargin said the strike damaged residential buildings in Balakovo and killed one person. He said all infrastructure facilities in the city are “operating normally.”
A few hours later, Sberbank First Deputy Chairman Alexander Vedyakhin confirmed the attack on the data center, saying all the bank’s systems and services are “operating normally.” The bank’s press service said no employees were injured.
This is the first Ukrainian attack on Sberbank data centers. Last week, Ukrainian drones struck data centers belonging to Yandex in the Ryazan and Vladimir regions, as well as in Kaluga.
Sberbank announced plans to build a data center in the Saratov region in 2020 and began construction the following year. The facility is expected to cover almost 60,000 square meters (about 646,000 square feet). Authorities said it would be the largest data center in Europe, and one of Sberbank’s supercomputers is being built at the Balakovo site.
Ukraine
Ukraine’s Western partners once again failed to warn Kyiv that Russia was preparing a ballistic missile strike on the capital, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on the evening of October 13. He said the missiles were detected only as they approached Kyiv. The main target was the CHP-4 power plant, one of Kyiv’s major energy facilities.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said partners did not warn Ukraine ahead of the first ballistic missile strike during the overnight attack on October 14, but did send notifications ahead of the three subsequent waves of strikes.
A day earlier, Zelensky had said Ukraine had received no intelligence from Western partners about the Russian missile strike on Kyiv on October 12. “Intelligence about the launch of Russian ballistic missiles helps save people’s lives, and this is one of the most critical issues. This is exactly what helps prevent killings when there is a warning about ballistic missiles,” he said.
According to Politico, the United States told Ukraine it had withheld intelligence about the missile strike on Kyiv on the evening of October 12 because of poor weather conditions. Ukrainian authorities fear “this might not have been the case.”
U.S. President Donald Trump, asked directly by a journalist whether Washington had stopped sharing intelligence with Kyiv, answered: “No.” Earlier, the Financial Times reported that the United States had threatened to cut off intelligence sharing with Ukraine unless Kyiv stopped striking Russian oil refineries.
On the morning of October 14, Ukrainian military personnel began reporting that SpaceX had restricted the operation of Starlink satellite terminals used by Ukrainian forces at the front. The restrictions affect Starshield, the military version of Starlink, and limit the speed of drones that rely on satellite communications.
Starshield is faster and necessary for drone operators, a source in the Ukrainian military told Ukrainska Pravda, a Ukrainian news outlet. Regular Starlink, installed on drones, supports speeds of up to 160 kilometers per hour (99 mph), which is not enough for some missions. One commander sent the outlet a video showing two Ukrainian drones climbing into the sky and then “lose” their connection, unable to continue the mission.
“Our defense forces did not receive a warning about these restrictions, and that led to the failure of a number of missions. It’s obvious that this action cannot be a coincidence and is connected to the current political situation,” said Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to the Ukrainian president.
SpaceX has not yet commented on the Ukrainian military’s statements.
The war in photos. The aftermath of the missile strike on Kyiv
Russian forces struck Kyiv overnight on October 14, killing three people and injuring 21, according to the latest data. A strike hit a multistory residential building in the Desnianskyi district. Among the injured is a child.
At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.
If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at reports@meduza.io.
To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.