Russian tech giant Yandex's data center in Sasovo burned out from the inside, a Ukrainian OSINT analyst wrote on 22 October. On cloud-free satellite images, he saw almost no significant holes in its roof. Ukrainian drones hit the site overnight on 8 October.

Sasovo was the first strike on a data center in Russia. It came two weeks after Russia destroyed data centers in Kyiv. Drones then hit Yandex sites in Vladimir and Kaluga, a Sber data center, and a VK data center near St. Petersburg, which VK acknowledged. In occupied Donbas, monitoring channels reported hits on buildings housing telecom operators.

What the analyst sees

The analyst, who goes by Harbuz, runs the Ukrainian OSINT channel Dnipro Osint. His roof reading comes from the images. His interior claim comes from what he called available information: he wrote that a fire broke out inside and put part of the equipment out of action.

In an earlier post, Harbuz wrote that a third of the data center had burned out. In the new one, he writes that the building burned out from the inside. He does not say whether he revised the earlier figure.

Russian outlet Agentstvo studied Airbus images from 12 October. It found damage on about a third of the building. Unlike Harbuz, though, Agentstvo described a blackened western roof with damage resembling holes.

What Yandex says

On 8 October, Yandex stated that the attack caused a fire and forced it to suspend operations at the site, which hosts tens of thousands of servers, Reuters reported. Yandex Cloud and the Disk and Documents services that run on it ran with major disruptions that morning, Russian outlet The Bell reported.

Later that day, the company stated: "The scale of the damage to the infrastructure is still being assessed. For the moment, we cannot confirm whether it is possible to restore the data centre equipment in Sasovo." Two of Yandex's three supercomputers, used to develop its AI model, are housed there.

The same day, journalists asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy whether Ukraine was targeting Russian data centers. He did not refer specifically to the Yandex strike, Reuters noted, but said: "We always respond in mirror-like fashion."

Denmark will guarantee a loan to the Danish subsidiary of Fire Point, the Ukrainian maker of Flamingo cruise missiles, the Danish Business Ministry announced on 21 October. The financing will run through EIFO, Denmark’s state export and investment fund.

Ukraine uses its Flamingo missiles to strike defense plants deep inside Russia as Moscow continues its full-scale invasion. Fire Point broke ground in December 2025 on a plant in Vojens, southern Denmark, to make solid fuel for the missiles. The project has since grown far more expensive. In August, CEO Iryna Terekh said its estimated cost had risen from €50 million to above €150 million, calling the figure “very rough.” The war, meanwhile, stands in the way of Fire Point borrowing on ordinary terms in Denmark, the ministry said. That is why the Danish state is guaranteeing the loan.

What Denmark is putting up

The guarantee covers 750 million Danish kroner, or about $112.6 million, Reuters reported. Terekh said in August that the plant’s launch had slipped to late 2027. The ministry called the deal another big step toward starting production. However, Ukrainian outlet Defender Media noted that the statement does not say directly that the loan will fund the plant.

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Ukraine’s Fire Point company is working on revolutionary system which can also transform European air defense

EIFO chief Peder Lundquist said the fund is involved in nearly 40 projects linked to Ukraine. Business Minister Martin Lidegaard said hosting a Ukrainian defense company brings Denmark knowledge, production, and partnerships. Europe’s security and freedom, he added, start in Ukraine.

Better shielded from Russian strikes

Defense Minister Jeppe Bruus said Denmark was the first country to decide to let a Ukrainian defense company set up on its soil. Production outside Ukraine, he argued, is better protected from Russian attacks. He added that Fire Point’s presence opens cooperation that could give Denmark access to technologies developed in wartime.

Denmark first said in September 2025 that Fire Point would make long-range missile fuel on Danish soil. Since then, the company has signed deals with more than a dozen European firms for FREYJA, an anti-ballistic project. It could reduce Europe’s long-term reliance on scarce US-made Patriot interceptors. Fire Point aims for a first ballistic missile intercept with it by mid-2027.