'We always respond in kind' — Zelensky addresses Ukrainian attacks on Russian data center
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Responding to journalists' questions in a press pool chat on Oct. 8, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine will continue to retaliate against Russia for strikes on Ukrainian data centers.
"We certainly are capable," Zelensky said about striking Russian data centers. "We always respond in kind. Regarding data centers, as you all know, they have been and still are striking our data centers."
The President's comments follow Ukrainian strikes on a Yandex data center in Russia's Ryazan Oblast on Oct. 8. The attack caused internet disruptions for several banking services, as well as for Google, RuTube, and the website of Russian Railways.
Yandex Cloud later acknowledged an "incident" and power supply problems, warning that the outage could affect other parts of its cloud network and advising customers to move some services elsewhere while engineers worked to restore operations.
"We responded to them," Zelensky told reporters when asked about the Yandex attack. "I cannot share all the details."
The attack came after Russian forces struck Ukrainian data centers and internet providers in late September. Officials said the strikes disrupted service for around 100,000 households as Moscow expands its attacks on Ukraine's internet infrastructure.
"As Russia is not achieving its goals on the battlefield, it is seeking new ways to destabilize life in Ukraine and terrorize civilians," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said about the attacks.
Zelensky clarified to reporters that Kyiv's retaliation against Russia will not match Moscow's targeting of children after Russian strikes killed dozens across Ukraine, including multiple minors, on Oct. 8.
"Let me tell you frankly: Ukraine certainly, most certainly, does not retaliate against children," Zelensky said. "It does not. And it never will. But certain adults will soon receive a response."
