Explosions in Balakovo: Sberbank data centre and metallurgical plant hit

Local accounts of the night explosions

Dozens of explosions were recorded in the city of Balakovo in Saratov Oblast on the night of 14 October, followed by a fire. Residents of the region reported the incident. Video footage circulating in open sources shows the moment of impact, as well as subsequent burning in the city.

Russian official authorities had not commented on this attack as of the time of reporting.

Possible damage to digital infrastructure

One of the likely targets is a mega data centre owned by Sberbank. Although construction of the complex is still ongoing, its commissioning is taking place in stages, meaning certain parts of the system may already be operational.

The project cost is estimated at 122.2 billion rubles (over 1 billion dollars). This complex is set to become one of the largest data processing centres in Russia. It is planned to house approximately 3,000 server racks and up to 120,000 servers with a total capacity of 82 MW.

In addition to the bank's own data, the services of the state digital platform "Gostekh" were planned to be hosted on this data centre's infrastructure.

Other potential targets of the attack

According to other reports, energy infrastructure in the area may have been hit. Information is also emerging about a possible attack on the industrial zone of the MZ Balakovo metallurgical plant.