Users reported glitches in VK social network following data centre attack

Night strike on VKontakte infrastructure

On the night of 18 October 2026, drones struck the data centre of the Russian social network VKontakte (VK). The facility is located in Leningrad Oblast. Around 3:00 am, users began to complain en masse about malfunctions in the platform's operation.

According to available data, an electrical substation located nearby was also damaged as a result of the attack. The publication Fontanka wrote about access issues to the social network, citing data from the monitoring service Downdetector and feedback from visitors.

What is known about the damaged facility

The data centre is located in the village of Novosergivka in Vsevolozhsky District, near Saint Petersburg. Next to it is the 330 kV "Vostochnaya" substation, which, according to reports, was also targeted by the strike.

According to the publication Militarnyi, the complex includes four machine halls, 640 server racks, and over 20,000 servers. This powerful infrastructure supports the operation of numerous digital services. However, the exact list of systems that may have been damaged as a result of the attack is currently unknown.

VK confirmed the fact of the attack on their data centre but emphasised that all services remain available to users in normal mode. There is currently insufficient independent data on the scale of physical damage to the equipment.

Wave of glitches for users

Residents of Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast faced difficulties trying to log in to VKontakte on the night of 18 October. The Downdetector service recorded a sharp increase in the number of complaints after 03:00.

Users indicated that the news feed and photos were not loading, and profiles would not open. There were also problems with sending messages and making calls through the app.

In addition to the social network, disruptions in mobile internet and communications were observed in the region. Meanwhile, there is currently insufficient evidence to claim that all these disruptions were directly caused by the damage to the VK data centre.

Series of reports on data centre strikes

This incident occurred against the backdrop of a series of reports on strikes on Russian data processing centres, which were recorded throughout October 2026.

Previously reported strikes included:

• Yandex's data centre in Sasovo (Ryazan Oblast) on 8 October;
• a facility in Kaluga Oblast on 9 October;
• a data centre in Vladimir on the night of 11 October;
• Sberbank's regional data centre in Balakovo (Saratov Oblast) on the night of 14 October.

After some of these incidents, users complained about disruptions in the operation of cloud platforms, email, banking applications, as well as delivery and taxi services. Company statements regarding service availability varied, and independent assessments of the scale of damage are not always available.

Recall that on 6 October and on the night of 7 October, the Ukrainian Defence Forces struck a number of Russian military facilities, including the Seshcha airfield, radio electronic warfare and radar stations, UAV control points, and warehouses.