Rocket and drone strikes now target the physical backbone of the digital economy, and Europe’s rush to construct massive AI facilities faces a reckoning. Data centres across Ukraine, Russia, and the Middle East have emerged as prime wartime targets capable of crippling banks, hospitals, and government operations within hours.
Russia has bombed server farms in Kyiv, while Ukrainian drones have struck multiple Russian facilities that Kyiv says bankroll Moscow’s war effort. Mehdi Paryavi, a UN adviser and founder of the International Data Center Authority, believes Europe must urgently rethink where and how it builds AI infrastructure.
“When you hit enough important targets, you can take down the entire economy,” Paryavi warned. Disabling a single facility can freeze military logistics, healthcare systems, and financial networks simultaneously.
The stakes keep climbing as Ukraine deploys AI for drone targeting and other combat applications. Recent attacks on data hubs signal that keeping server locations quiet no longer provides adequate protection. Paryavi suggested underground bunkers or iron dome defences may become mandatory, though he declined to offer specifics due to national security concerns.
“The days that you would just build data centres in random locations are over,” he said.
No country has yet figured out how to secure these facilities without decelerating the global AI buildout. Asked directly whether European governments would revise their gigafactory plans, Paryavi answered: “100%.”
The European Commission has already opened a tender for up to seven AI gigafactories, with proposals due by November 12. A spokesperson confirmed the call remains open but offered no comment on whether wartime targeting would alter siting decisions.
Cost compounds the urgency. A single data centre can reach $25 billion and require three years to complete. “Europe cannot afford to finance hundreds of billions of dollars of assets and then somebody takes them out,” Paryavi said. He projects the entire construction push must slow down.
The UN adviser urged European nations to act collectively, noting no single country can manage the security burden alongside global energy shortages and skilled labour gaps. Concentrating facilities in protected clusters, rather than scattering them across the continent, may offer the only viable defence.
“Building data centres and digital hubs is the only way a nation or a hub or data centre companies can secure themselves,” he said.
