Brief
Ukrainian drone strikes on Yandex data centres cut pro‑Russian social media accounts by up to 84%
A Ukrainian disinformation‑countering agency reports sharp drops in pro‑Russian activity after two Yandex data‑centre attacks.
By Felo News Desk · Published
Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD) says drone strikes that disabled two Yandex data centres caused a sharp decline in pro‑Russian accounts on Facebook and Telegram, with activity falling as much as 84 percent.
What happened
The CCD analysed 22,664 messages from 5,201 accounts posted between Oct. 6 and Oct. 12 across 26 topics in Ukraine’s information space. After a fire on Oct. 8 that knocked Yandex’s Sasovo data centre in Ryazan offline, messages dropped 83.6 percent, from 4,032 to 660. A second strike on Oct. 12 that fully halted a Yandex facility in Vladimir saw messages fall another 42.6 percent and active accounts dip 41 percent. A subset of 98 accounts that posted pro‑war propaganda followed the same pattern.
What the reports add
Mashable notes that the CCD used software from Ukrainian security firm Osavul to flag accounts showing “signs of inauthentic behavior,” though the report does not define the term. United24 Media first covered the CCD’s Oct. 15 report on Oct. 17. The CCD concluded that data‑centre strikes can significantly disrupt Russian influence networks, but the effect appears short‑lived, with activity rebounding to pre‑strike levels by Oct. 10 after the first hit.
What was said
Chance Townsend, Mashable’s General Assignments editor, wrote that the findings provide “the most direct evidence so far behind a claim that went viral last week,” but also cautioned that Mashable could not independently verify the CCD’s data. The outlet said it emailed Osavul for the underlying dataset and criteria used to flag inauthentic behavior, but received no response before publication.
How it came about
The CCD operates under Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council and used Osavul’s AI‑powered risk‑intelligence tools to monitor online activity. Earlier Felo News coverage linked the strikes to President Zelensky’s remarks at the Warsaw Security Forum, where he said the attacks silenced pro‑Russian bots and cited a 94 percent drop in automated traffic from Yandex after a later Vladimir strike.
Key facts
- Messages from pro‑Russian accounts fell 83.6 percent after the Oct. 8 Sasovo strike. (mashable.com)
- Active accounts dropped 41 percent after the Oct. 12 Vladimir strike. (mashable.com)
- The CCD analysed 22,664 messages from 5,201 accounts between Oct. 6‑12. (mashable.com)
- Mashable could not independently verify the CCD’s findings. (mashable.com)
Sources
- [1] mashable.com — originally reported as “Did Ukraine's data center strikes affect Russia's bot army? We now have better evidence.”
