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The crisis comes as tensions with Russia escalate, with NATO and the EU pledging to support Kyiv in the offensive.
A massive cyberattack explosion left Ukrainian government websites unavailable for some time on Friday, officials said.
While it is not known who started the cyberattack, the confusion came in the middle problems with Russia and after negotiations between Moscow and the West have failed to advance this week.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko told The Associated Press that it was close to establishing who caused the attack, “but there is a long history of Russian violence in the past”.
Moscow has previously denied involvement in terrorist activities against Ukraine.
The websites of the prime minister, seven services, finance, National Emergency Service and website of government services, where Ukrainian computer passports and vaccination certificates are stored, were temporarily unavailable for Friday due to the hack.
The websites contained messages in Ukrainian, Russian and Polish, stating that the content of Ukrainian posts had been publicly downloaded.
“Have fear, and expect evil. This is your past, present and future, “the message was read aloud.
The State Service of Special Communication and Information Protection in Ukraine said no results had been released. Most of the affected websites were restored later on Friday and no requirements were affected.
Oleh Derevianko, a leading business analyst and founder of ISSP cybersecurity, said the timing of the crash and the wake-up call could be significant.
It could be “part of a mixed-risk or long-term planning and technical process that is taking place but has not yet reached its peak”, said Derevianko, adding that the question is whether this is an independent event or a major part of the state. – supported work.
Tensions between Ukraine and Russia have escalated in recent months after Moscow mobilized nearly 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border, sparking fears of an offensive.
Moscow has said it has no plans to revolt and reject Washington’s demands for its troops, saying it has the right to deploy them wherever necessary.
The Kremlin is sought security guarantees from the West that NATO refuses to become a member of Ukraine and other former Soviet states and to repatriate allied forces to Central and Eastern Europe. Washington and its allies have refused to make such promises, but have said they are ready to negotiate.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement on Friday that “NATO and Ukraine will sign a memorandum of understanding to promote cyber-cooperation, including the Ukrainian opportunity to share information from NATO malware”.
European Union Foreign Secretary Josep Borrell said the bloc was ready to mobilize resources in Ukraine to tackle the cyberattack crisis.
“Unfortunately, we were expecting this to happen,” he said.
When asked who was behind the plot, Borrell said: “I can’t point it at anyone because I have no evidence, but someone else can guess.”
Russia has a long history of initiating cyber-violence against Ukraine, including disrupting its voting system ahead of the 2014 elections and attacks on the country’s electoral system in 2015 and 2016. In 2017, Russia released one of the most notorious cyberattack known as NotPetya virus looked at Ukrainian businesses and spent more than $ 10bn worldwide.
In other words, Russia on Friday said it had fired the notorious REvil fraudulent group, which carried out a massive attack last year on IT company Kaseya, following a request from Washington.
Cybersecurity was one of the highlights of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden last June.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement that it had “banned the activities” of its members when it attacked 25 addresses that killed 14 people.
The investigation was carried out following a “request from US officials”.
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