On Vladimir Putin's birthday, Russian state media was hit by a massive cyberattack, allegedly carried out by Ukrainian hackers.
On Monday, Russia's largest state media company, VGTRK, suffered a major hacking incident that took down both their website and the Rossiya-24 news channel.
Users attempting to access the sites were met with a message stating that the services were unavailable. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the attack as "unprecedented," adding that VGTRK employees were working to restore the systems.
The attack coincided with Vladimir Putin's birthday, and according to a Ukrainian government source who spoke to Reuters, it was Ukrainian hackers responsible for the breach.
"Ukrainian hackers congratulated Putin on his birthday by launching a large-scale attack against all Russian state-controlled television and radio stations," the source said.
During the cyberattack, Ukraine’s military intelligence service, GUR, reported that it had neutralized the Russian minesweeper Aleksandr Obukhov in the Baltic Sea.
According to GUR, the vessel suffered a severe engine leak, requiring costly and complex repairs.
The ship was on a combat mission when the attack occurred, marking the second time in six months that a ship from Russia's Baltic Sea Fleet was neutralized by Ukraine, according to TV4 Nyheterna.
