Ukraine knocked out Russia's biggest data centers. Trump's answer was to attack Zelensky, buy Putin's diesel and float joint US-Russia data centers

People and organizations

Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky, Government of Russia, Government of Ukraine, Trump administration

Places

United States, Russia, Ukraine

Evidence label

Reporting — Original reporting by an identified news organization that we opened and dated. Investigative findings are attributed to the outlet, not asserted as adjudicated fact. More

What happened

On October 8, 2026, Ukrainian drones hit Yandex's data center in Sasovo, in Russia's Ryazan region, which houses two of the company's three supercomputers; a Yandex data center in Kaluga was hit the next day and another in Vladimir on October 11, more than 300 miles from the Ukrainian border [1][3]. Sberbank's data center and AI hub in Balakovo was struck on October 14, and on October 18 Kyiv hit a St. Petersburg data center serving VKontakte, Russia's largest social network [1].

The effects inside Russia were immediate and broad: cloud outages, interruptions to banking, e-commerce, geolocation, ride-hailing, Yandex's Alisa assistant and AI chatbots, arbitration courts cancelling sessions, and ordinary people unable to pay, collect orders or book taxis [1]. Experts told the AP repairs could take months or years and that Russia's AI ambitions had been set back significantly; one put it as leaving Russia "far behind in the AI race" [1].

Trump's response was aimed at Kyiv, not Moscow. On October 11 he said it was "time for Ukraine to get a new president" and blamed Zelensky for higher diesel prices [2]. He called Ukraine's renewed strikes on Russian oil facilities "a disgrace," said Zelensky was "not a good guy for us to deal with," "more difficult to deal with than Putin," and that "they've destroyed that country" [3]. Two days earlier he had agreed by phone with Putin to let Russian diesel back into world markets, and on October 16 he waived the Russia sanctions law he had signed in September [8].

On October 16, Putin's investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev said the Russian Direct Investment Fund would work with the United States on payment for the diesel deal and that Russia and the US were discussing joint data centers, including nuclear-powered ones [4]. No agreement has been published; CSIS, which examined the proposal, could find only Dmitriev's statements [5].

Why it matters

Data centers are the war's new front line because they run the banks, logistics and surveillance systems a modern state fights with, and Yandex's were the backbone of Russia's civilian internet and its AI program [1]. Ukraine hit them without US help and at no cost to American taxpayers; the president of the United States responded by siding with the country being hit [2][3].

The data-center proposal is the sharper problem. CSIS lays out why building and running compute infrastructure with a sanctioned adversary would expose US chips, energy infrastructure and export-controlled technology to Russian state access and conflict directly with existing sanctions and export-control law, and it urges Congress and the agencies to treat the idea as a national-security question rather than a business deal [5]. It arrived in the same week as the diesel license and the sanctions waiver, which is why it reads less like a one-off remark than the next item on a list [8][4].

The evidence

• The five strikes, their dates and targets, and the documented civilian and commercial fallout inside Russia [1][2].
• Trump's words, on the record: "disgrace," "new president," "not a big fan," "more difficult to deal with than Putin" [3][2].
• The sequence: October 9 diesel call and General License 135; October 11 "new president"; October 16 sanctions waiver and the joint data-center pitch on the same day [8][4].
• Dmitriev's own description of the data-center talks, including nuclear power for them [4].
• CSIS's assessment that no agreement exists on paper and that the proposal, if real, would run into sanctions and export-control law [5].

Response and counterpoints

The administration's stated rationale is fuel prices: Trump says the strikes raise world oil prices and the diesel deal lowers them, and he has said he wants a settlement Zelensky is blocking [3]. The joint data-center idea has been described only by the Russian side; the White House has not confirmed or denied it, and CSIS treats it as a proposal rather than a deal [5][4].

One popular claim deserves a correction. A viral chart said the strikes silenced Russia's propaganda bots, and Zelensky amplified it; the chart is real, but it measures automated requests from Yandex's own network, meaning Yandex's crawlers, which fell more than 99 percent at one comparison hour, not social-media bot accounts, and there is no measured drop in pro-Russian social-media activity attributable to the strikes [6]. The "election interference" charge is real but aimed slightly differently than the reel suggests: Senator Mike Lee wrote that "Zelenskyy is working overtime. To help Democrats in November," Fox host Rachel Campos-Duffy called him "ungrateful," and Jack Posobiec urged cutting off intelligence sharing and funding, and those attacks were about Ukraine's refinery strikes and fuel prices, which spread from anonymous accounts to national television and members of Congress [7]. The Raw America reel below asks why a Ukrainian strike on Russian infrastructure would hurt Republicans at all; the strikes, the accusations and the data-center proposal are documented, the bot claim is not [6][7].

What remains uncertain

Whether the US-Russia data-center talks are real negotiations or a Kremlin talking point is unknown; nothing has been signed or published [5]. How long Yandex and Sberbank take to restore capacity, and whether Russia can replace the lost supercomputers under sanctions, is an open question that experts frame in months to years [1]. Whether Trump's pressure leads Ukraine to stop the data-center campaign is also unresolved; Zelensky said "We're done" with the pause on refinery strikes after Russia kept hitting Ukrainian energy infrastructure [3].

Money and method

Dates and targets come from the AP's two reports; the "five data centers" count includes three Yandex sites, one Sberbank site and one serving VKontakte [1]. Trump quotations are taken from Newsweek's and the AP's reports of his remarks [3][2]. The bot-claim correction relies on Lawfare's analysis of the Cloudflare Radar data [6]. The reel is embedded as commentary and is labeled as such; it is not a source for any factual claim on this page.

Watch

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Raw America's reel asking why Republicans would call Ukraine's strikes on Russian data centers 'midterm interference' has 9.5 million views. It is opinion, not reporting; the record it is reacting to is above, including the point that the loudest 'helping Democrats' accusations were about refinery strikes. Watch on Facebook. The player loads from Facebook only after you press play.

Sources cited

1. [1]
   Ukraine's strikes on Russian data centers disrupt key services and derail AI research — The Associated Press via ABC News, 2026-10-22.

   supports · Paragraphs 2-7 (five data centers hit; cloud, banking, e-commerce, ride-hailing, Alisa and AI chatbot disruptions; arbitration courts; repairs could take months or years; Klimarev 'far behind in the AI race'); paragraph 11 (Trump blamed the attacks for higher oil prices and struck the diesel deal with Putin); paragraphs 14-16 (Sasovo Oct. 8 with two of Yandex's three supercomputers; Kaluga Oct. 9; Vladimir Oct. 11; Sberbank Balakovo Oct. 14; VKontakte St. Petersburg Oct. 18); paragraphs 27-29 (payments, orders and taxi rides paralyzed) · checked 2026-10-26 · source N-dc-01
2. [2]
   Ukraine steps up strikes on Russia's tech infrastructure, damaging a third data center in 4 days — The Associated Press via The Boston Globe, 2026-10-11.

   supports · Paragraphs 1-4 (third Yandex data center in four days; Sasovo, Kaluga, Vladimir; Yandex confirmed damage to a facility in Vladimir region); paragraphs 5-8 (Trump: 'time for Ukraine to get a new president,' Zelensky blamed for higher diesel prices; strikes came after Trump's deal to buy Russian diesel and his demand that Kyiv stop hitting Russian refineries) · checked 2026-10-26 · source N-dc-02
3. [3]
   Trump lashes out at Zelensky over Russian refinery attacks: 'Disgrace' — Newsweek, 2026-10-24.

   supports · Paragraphs 1-4 (Trump calls Kyiv's renewed strikes on Russian oil facilities a 'disgrace'; Ryazan attack; 'not a good guy for us to deal with'; 'making the world oil price higher'); paragraphs 5-6 (Zelensky criticized the diesel sanctions relief and Starlink throttling; 'We're done' with the refinery pause); paragraphs 8-10 ('I'm not a big fan of Zelensky. They've destroyed that country'; Zelensky 'more difficult to deal with than Putin'); paragraph 12 (Yandex data center in Vladimir hit, more than 300 miles from the border) · checked 2026-10-26 · source N-dc-03
4. [4]
   Dmitriev says Russian wealth fund will work with US on payment for diesel deal; Russia and US discussing joint data centers — Reuters via MarketScreener, 2026-10-16.

   supports · Paragraphs 1-6 (Oct. 16, 2026: Kirill Dmitriev says the Russian Direct Investment Fund will work with the US on payment for the diesel deal and that Russia and the US are discussing joint data centers, including nuclear-powered ones; Putin's envoy for economic cooperation) · checked 2026-10-26 · source N-dc-04
5. [5]
   Did the United States and Russia Just Agree to Collaborate on Data Centers? — Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2026-10-21.

   supports · Sections 'Q1' through 'Q4' (what Dmitriev proposed and whether any agreement exists; why data-center cooperation with Russia would expose US compute, chips and energy infrastructure to a sanctioned adversary; export-control and sanctions conflicts; the recommendation that Congress and agencies treat the proposal as a security question, not a commercial one) · checked 2026-10-26 · source N-dc-05
6. [6]
   The Russian Bots Went Silent. Or Did They? — Lawfare (Renée DiResta), 2026-10-14.

   supports · Paragraphs 1-7 (the viral claim that the strikes silenced Russian propaganda bots, amplified by Zelensky; the real Cloudflare Radar chart shows automated requests from Yandex's own network AS13238 falling more than 99 percent at one comparison hour, which measures Yandex's crawlers, not social-media bots); paragraphs 10-14 (why the chart cannot establish that influence operations went quiet; no measured drop in pro-Russian social accounts attributable to the strikes) · checked 2026-10-26 · source N-dc-06
7. [7]
   'Zelenskyy is helping Democrats': Trump's MAGA base accuses Ukraine of trying to swing US midterms, says journalist in US — Euromaidan Press, 2026-10-12.

   supports · Paragraphs 1-7 (MAGA narrative that Ukraine strikes Russian refineries to raise fuel prices and help Democrats; spread from anonymous accounts to national television and members of Congress; Sen. Mike Lee: 'Zelenskyy is working overtime. To help Democrats in November'; Fox host Campos-Duffy 'ungrateful'; Posobiec urges cutting intelligence sharing and funding); paragraph 8 (the accusations concern refinery strikes, not data centers) · checked 2026-10-26 · source N-dc-08
8. [8]
   He signed the Russia sanctions law in September and waived it in October, after a phone call with Putin about diesel — DumpTrump.win, 2026-10-26.

   context · 'What happened' and 'The evidence' sections (Oct. 9 call and General License 135; Oct. 16 executive order waiving the Graham Act; 'disgrace' remark; the first diesel tanker) · checked 2026-10-26 · source N-dc-07