US: Ukraine cyber attack is ‘part of Russian playbook’

Kiev believes a hacker group linked to Belarusian intelligence carried out a cyber attack that hit its websites this week and used malware similar to that used by a group tied to Russian intelligence, a senior Ukrainian security official said.

Victoria Nuland, the US under secretary of state for political affairs, said a large-scale cyberattack against Ukraine on Friday was a “tried and true part of the Russian playbook”, the Financial Times reported, citing an interview with her.

US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland speaks at a press briefing at the State Department in Washington, DC,. (AFP)

But Nuland stopped short of blaming Russia for the cyberattack, which was the worst in four years in Ukraine and brought down the websites of scores of government agencies for hours.

“In the past, Russian operatives have done this to destabilise governments, to test their own capabilities, to undercut the sense of confidence of governments that they have gripes with. So anything is possible here,” she told the FT.

Ukraine suspects Belarus intelligence behind hack

Kiev believes a hacker group linked to Belarusian intelligence carried out a cyber attack that hit its websites this week and used malware similar to that used by a group tied to Russian intelligence, a senior Ukrainian security official said.

British foreign minister Liz Truss has said that Russia is waging a disinformation campaign to justify an invasion of Ukraine. “Russia must halt its aggression, de-escalate and engage in meaningful talks,” Truss said on Twitter.