A prayer service was held in Kaluga to seek protection from drones following an attack on the Yandex data center

Following the Ukrainian attack on the Yandex data center in Kaluga, Russia, the parish of St. Prince Vladimir on the city’s right bank held a prayer service before the icon of the “Unburnt Bush,” which is considered miraculous. On October 14, priests and parishioners asked the Lord and the Mother of God to protect them from an “enemy attack,” according to a post on the church’s VKontakte page.

The clergy stated that the city—particularly its Right Bank district—is going through a difficult period due to bombings and drone flights. According to them, in such circumstances, their ancestors turned to God and the Mother of God for protection and help.

After the prayer service, the church’s rector, Priest Kirill Khanta, together with priests Dimitri Novikov and Ilya Potemkin, processed through the Right Bank district carrying an icon of the Virgin Mary and sprinkled the streets with holy water.

Ukrainian drones attacked the Yandex data center in Kaluga on the night of October 8–9. As a result of the strike, several modules of the data center were completely knocked out of commission. This is the company’s most powerful data center, covering an area of 130,000 square meters, which supports its internal services.

On the same day, after debris from the drones fell, the “AGR” automobile plant—where Chinese Tenet cars are assembled—halted operations. In total, 30 buildings in Kaluga sustained damage, including residential buildings.

The day before, the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked the Yandex data center in Sasovo, Ryazan Oblast, and on October 11, a similar facility in Vladimir. On October 14, drones struck an unfinished Sberbank data center in Balakovo, Saratov Oblast. The damage to the data centers led to service disruptions for several major companies in the Russian segment of the internet.

So-called “protective prayer services” and “processions” began to gain popularity in Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. These religious events are used in an attempt to protect damaged oil depots and other facilities—including oil refineries—from attacks.

For example, in the winter of 2025, Russian priests traveled throughout the Ryazan Region carrying icons, where the “Dyagilevo” nuclear bomber base and a Rosneft refinery, which accounts for 5% of the country’s total oil refining capacity. Despite these measures, the refinery has been attacked on multiple occasions. The most recent attack occurred on the night of October 15.

This was reported by Russian propaganda media.

Strikes on Yandex data centers disrupted the operations of Russian bot farms.

On the night of October 11, drones attacked a Yandex data center in Russia’s Vladimir Oblast. The company confirmed that operations had come to a complete halt, causing widespread disruptions to dozens of digital services across the country.

The Russian technology company Yandex stated that, due to the drone attack, it had completely shut down its data center in Russia’s Vladimir Oblast. According to the company, the attack damaged its infrastructure.