Delhi, October 12: Ukrainian strikes on Russian technology giant Yandex's data centres may have consequences far more serious than temporary disruptions to the search engine, taxi, or other popular services.

The strikes have been followed by a dramatic decline in automated online activity, raising questions about whether the attacks may also have disrupted Moscow's influence operations abroad.

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The wave of attacks against the Russian internet giant has sent shockwaves across Russia in recent days and caused major disruptions to daily life.

The attacks on Yandex follow a month of Russian strikes on Ukrainian data centres and telecoms sites.

Though Ukraine has increasingly sought to undermine Russia’s economy by striking infrastructure vital to some of its largest businesses in recent months, but this is the first time that targeting their data centers has become part of that war strategy.

Sources said between October 8 and 11, drones attacked Yandex data centers in Russia.

Launched in 2000, ‘Yandex’ has long since evolved into an entire ecosystem combining taxi, delivery, mapping, online commerce, data storage, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence services, and even has its own payment system.

Both Russia and Ukraine have stepped up attacks on infrastructure in recent months as the war between them continues in its fifth year following Russia's full-scale invasion.