Ukrainian drones hit Yandex data centers for a second day as peace talks open in Miami

Ukrainian drones attacked Russia's Kaluga region overnight into October 9. Governor Vladislav Shapsha reported strikes on infrastructure in Kaluga without giving details, and said nine people were injured, five of them hospitalized. Yandex, Russia's largest technology company, later said its data center in Kaluga had been hit. No employees were hurt, but several data center modules were completely disabled, and the company warned that some services could be disrupted.

It was the second attack on Yandex data centers in two days. Overnight into October 8, drones hit a facility in Sasovo, in the Ryazan region, starting a fire and shutting the data center down entirely. Users then reported disruptions to Yandex services, media websites and other platforms, including Avito, Ivi, Megafon, Russian Railways and T-Bank. Yandex called its data centers the company's "iron heart" and said its teams were working day and night to keep services running.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky briefly addressed the matter on the evening of October 8, saying Russia had struck Ukrainian data centers and was still doing so, and that Ukraine had responded. He did not share further details. Since late September, Russian forces have damaged or destroyed data centers belonging to at least eight companies in Ukraine. Russia's Defense Ministry has described these strikes as a "forced digital detox."

Peace talks in Miami

Ukrainian representatives are meeting U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Miami on October 9 and 10. The delegation includes presidential chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov, Davyd Arakhamia, who leads the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, and Foreign Intelligence Service head Rustem Umerov. Reuters reported that Washington also invited national security advisers from the United Kingdom, France and Germany, along with representatives of NATO and the EU.

According to Axios, Witkoff and Kushner intend to present "new ideas and proposals" for ending the war; no details were given. They presented them to President Donald Trump on October 8 and could travel to Moscow in October to meet Vladimir Putin.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said shortly before the talks that there were no current prospects for a settlement and that the war had reached a "strategic stalemate," as Russia insists on full control of the Donbas. Zelensky responded that breaking the deadlock would require more economic pressure on Russia and permission to use Starlink for strikes on Russian territory.

Separately, on the morning of October 9, Russian aerial bombs hit Zaporizhzhia. Ukraine's State Emergency Service said a 50-year-old man was killed and 14 people were injured.