Ukrainian strikes damage Russian finance ministry data center housing tax records
A drone attack on a government facility near Gorodets has knocked out a critical data processing center for Russia's Federal Tax Service, potentially disrupting state information systems.
Ukraine's aerial campaign has reached another Russian data center, this time striking a facility operated by Moscow's Ministry of Finance in the suburbs of Gorodets, roughly 230 miles from the Kremlin and more than 600 miles from active combat zones. The damaged installation reportedly housed multiple state registries, among them the Federal Taxation Service's tax database, according to reporting by Data Center Dynamics.
Data Center Dynamics cited Russian media in describing the facility's significance: "The facility is one of two key data processing centers of the Federal Tax Service of Russia operating in a geo-distributed mode. The damage to this facility could potentially affect the operation of state information systems of the Russian Federation."
The strike represents an escalation in tit-for-tat targeting of digital infrastructure. Since early October, Ukraine has repeatedly attacked Russian data centers, a strategy that began after Moscow intensified its own assault on Ukrainian computing facilities. The finance ministry maintains two additional data centers—one at the Federal Data Processing Center in Dubna, Moscow Region, and another in Yerzovka, Volgograd Region—meaning the loss of this third facility could substantially impair government service delivery.