The VKontakte Data Center Near St. Petersburg Sustained Critical Damage
11- 19.10.2026, 18:48
- 11,592
Satellite photo.
A satellite image of the damaged VKontakte data center near St. Petersburg following the Ukrainian attack on October 18 has been published online. The image shows extensive damage to the roof of one of the buildings and dark areas that appear to be burn marks, according to dialog.ua.
An analysis of the damage to the facility’s digital and power infrastructure confirms that, as a result of precision strikes by drones, the entire data center complex sustained critical damage, rendering its normal operation impossible.
Consequences for the equipment inside the main building
4. Setback for fire suppression: modern data centers use gas-based fire suppression systems (inert gases), which are effective only in sealed rooms. Huge holes in the roof and walls completely nullified the automatic protection system, allowing the fire to spread unimpeded.
A data center of this scale is an extremely energy-intensive facility. OSINT analysis confirms that the “Vostochnaya” power substation is located directly next to the complex and was also struck by UAVs.
The small frames at the bottom and on the left show damage to the switchgear, transformer platforms, and diesel generator sets (DGS), which are designed to provide backup power to the data center in accordance with the N+1 architectural standard.
Damage to the substation’s outdoor switchgear (OSG) led to an immediate power outage in the server room even before a large-scale fire broke out.
The physical loss of such a large number of storage devices will require a lengthy data recovery process from backup cloud copies in Moscow or other regions.
Bank's name: Bank Millennium S.A.
Address: ul. Stanislawa Zaryna, 2A, 02-593, Warszawa
IBAN: PL97116022020000000216711123
SWIFT: BIGBPLPW
Name of the account holder: Fundacja “KARTA ‘97”
Purpose/title of payment: Donation for statuary aims
You can contact us by the e-mail [email protected]
