In a context of high tension between Kiev and Moscow, several Ukrainian government websites were the target of a hacker attack that, however, did not cause serious damage, according to local authorities.
On many occasions, Ukraine and its Western allies have accused Russia of launching cyberattacks on the country’s websites and infrastructure, something the Kremlin denies. This Friday (14), the pages of ministries, including Foreign Affairs, Education and Emergency Situations, were inaccessible.
Before the chancellery page went down, the attackers posted a threat in Ukrainian, Russian and Polish. “Ukrainians, be afraid and prepare for the worst. All your personal data has been made public,” read the message, accompanied by various logos, including a crossed-out Ukrainian flag, a correspondent for the AFP news agency reported.
Ukrainian officials said, however, that no personal data had been leaked. According to the country’s secret services, “the content of the sites has not changed”. “Much of the affected government resources have been restored, and the others will be accessible again soon,” they said, adding that some pages were voluntarily disabled to prevent “the spread of attacks.”
So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, and Kiev has not accused anyone. The European Union, for its part, condemned the incident, and EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrell promised to mobilize “all resources” to help overcome the sabotage.
The attack comes against a background of growing tensions between Ukraine and Russia, which Kiev and its allies accuse of planning a new invasion of Ukrainian territory, as happened in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea. One of the hypotheses considered as a harbinger of a military offensive is that of a major hacking action against Ukraine’s strategic infrastructure to disorganize the authorities.
In recent years, Ukraine has been the target of a series of attacks of the type attributed to Russia, such as one launched in 2017 against various critical infrastructure, and another in 2015 against its electricity grid.
Western powers accuse Russia of planning an invasion of Ukraine after sending tanks, artillery and more than 100,000 troops to the country’s eastern border in recent weeks. NATO, the Western military alliance, sees the move as preparation for military action, which Moscow denies.
This week, several meetings were held between Russian and Western authorities to try to resolve the crisis with Ukraine, without success. Russia reiterated that it has no intention of invading neighboring territory and ended the discussions. In the end, he said he saw no reason to resume the dialogue.
In this context, the Russian Defense Ministry published, this Friday, images of military exercises with 2,500 soldiers and a hundred tanks about 50 km from the Ukrainian border. Russia invaded and annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014 after a pro-Western revolution erupted in the former Soviet republic, toppling the Kremlin-aligned government.
Moscow also financially and militarily supports pro-Russian separatists at war with Ukrainian authorities in the east of the country, in a conflict that has left more than 13,000.
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