Russian cyberattacks target payment systems – DW – 01/09/2024

Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) on Tuesday said that Ukrainian strikes on Russian targets at the Saki aerodrome and Sevastopol last week had likely impacted Russian air defences in Crimea.

“These attacks likely degraded the awareness and coverage of Russian air defences over the Crimean region,” the MOD said in its daily intelligence briefing.

The MOD said that Russia had launced a number of missile attacks across Ukraine on Monday in response, targeting several cities which included Kryvyi Rih and Zaporizhzhia city.

The MOD also pointed out that the attacks highlight “the ineffectiveness of Russian air defences in protecting key locations” and was an indication that Ukraine’s actions in the region had been successful. 

On Saturday Ukraine’s air force said  it had struck and destroyed a Russian command center at the Saki airfield on the occupied Crimean peninsula in an overnight missile attack.

Ukraine last hit the Saki airfield in August 2022, destroying several Russian aircraft.

Russia on Tuesday said its military would do everything possible to stop Ukraine’s shelling of Belgorod, a border town where evacuations have taken place due to Ukrainian bombardments.

“Of course, our military will continue to do everything in order to minimize the danger at first and then eliminate it entirely,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

He accused Ukrainian forces of firing on civilian targets with weapons supplied by European countries.

A bout of aerial attacks on Belgorod last month killed 25 people.

Several Russian cyberattacks targeting Ukraine’s budget payment systems have been repelled, according to senior Ukrainian lawmaker Danylo Hetmantsev.

Hetmantsev, who heads the Ukrainian parliamentary committee for finaces, taxes and customs, said on Telegram that the attack was attempt by Russian hackers to destroy Ukrainian payment systems, but was thwarted.

The lawmaker also said that some minor access restrictions for users from abroad were possible.

Last week Ukraine’s Security Service, known as the SBU, warned that Russia was planning more cyberattacks on the country’s largest telecoms provider Kyivstar, following an attack in December that knocked out phone and internet services.

Illia Vitiuk, head of cybersecurity department in SBU, alleged the attack was the work of Sandworm, a regular unit of Russian military intelligence that has targeted Ukrainian telecommunication operators and internet service providers, the statement said.

Other services impacted by the December attack were bank ATMs, air raid sirens, and point-of-sale terminals in stores.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday said most of the European Union were failing to deliver sufficient weapons to Ukraine.

“As significant as the German contribution is, it will not be enough to ensure Ukraine’s security in the long run,” Scholz said at a news conference in Berlin.

“Therefore, I call on allies in the European Union to strengthen their efforts regarding Ukraine,” he added.

Germany had been criticized in the early months of Russia’s invasion for failing to provide enough military support to Kyiv, but it has become one of the largest providers of weapons and financial aid.

Late last year, it agreed to double the country’s military aid for Ukraine in 2024 to €8 billion ($8.8 billion).

“Europe must demonstrate that it stands closely with Ukraine on the side of freedom, international law, and European values,” Scholz asserted.

The chancellor said he was confident the bloc would agree to its proposed 50 billion-euro aid package for Ukraine at an upcoming emergency summit on Feb. 1.