‘PART OF THE RUSSIAN PLAYBOOK’

Ukraine Accuses Russia of Launching Massive Cyberattack in ‘Hybrid War’ Effort

“All evidence indicates that Russia is behind the cyberattack,” the country’s Ministry of Digital Development said of the hacks, which took down at least 70 government websites.

Days after a huge cyberattack took down several Ukrainian government websites with a warning to “be afraid and expect the worst,” Ukraine has said it blames Russia for the ominous vandalism. “All evidence indicates that Russia is behind the cyberattack,” the country’s Ministry of Digital Development said in a Sunday statement. The ministry alleged that the hack was part of Russian efforts to wage “a hybrid war” amid a tense standoff between the two neighboring countries’ forces on the border. The cyberattack, which simultaneously defaced 70 Ukrainian government websites late Thursday, also coincided with a separate malware attack affecting “an unspecified number of Ukrainian government agencies,” Microsoft disclosed on Saturday. The extent of the damage has not yet been made clear. Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, said that the U.S. was still working to determine the source of the attacks. But “this is part of the Russian playbook,” he told CBS’ Face the Nation program on Sunday.