Ukraine: Government Websites Down after a Hacking Attack

The national flag of Ukraine flies over the town of Kramatorsk, Ukraine November 25, 2021. Picture taken with a drone on November 25, 2021. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
The national flag of Ukraine flies over the town of Kramatorsk, Ukraine November 25, 2021. Picture taken with a drone on November 25, 2021. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
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Ukraine: Government Websites Down after a Hacking Attack

The national flag of Ukraine flies over the town of Kramatorsk, Ukraine November 25, 2021. Picture taken with a drone on November 25, 2021. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
The national flag of Ukraine flies over the town of Kramatorsk, Ukraine November 25, 2021. Picture taken with a drone on November 25, 2021. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

A number of government websites in Ukraine were down on Friday after a huge hacking attack, Ukrainian officials and media reports said.

“As a result of a massive hacking attack, the websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a number of other government agencies are temporarily down. Our specialists are already working on restoring the work of IT systems,” spokesman of Ukraine's Foreign Ministry Oleg Nikolenko wrote on Facebook on Friday.

According to the Ukrainskaya Pravda newspaper, websites of the country's Cabinet, seven ministries, the Treasury, the National Emergency Service and the state services website were unavailable as the result of the hack, The Associated Press said.

The report also said that the Foreign Ministry's website contained a message in Ukrainian, Russian and Polish, saying that Ukrainians' personal data has been leaked to the public domain. “Be afraid and expect the worst. This is for your past, present and future," the message read, in part.



Russia Says its Troops Reach Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk Region

FILE PHOTO: A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant from the bank of Kakhovka Reservoir near the town of Nikopol amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Alina Smutko/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant from the bank of Kakhovka Reservoir near the town of Nikopol amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Alina Smutko/File Photo
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Russia Says its Troops Reach Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk Region

FILE PHOTO: A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant from the bank of Kakhovka Reservoir near the town of Nikopol amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Alina Smutko/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant from the bank of Kakhovka Reservoir near the town of Nikopol amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Alina Smutko/File Photo

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that Russian forces reached Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region and continued their advance there.

It also said that Russian troops captured the village of Zoria in Ukraine's Donetsk region.

Moscow, which has the initiative on the battlefield, has repeatedly refused calls by Ukraine, Europe and US President Donald Trump for a full and unconditional ceasefire.

At talks in Istanbul last week it demanded Kyiv pull troops back from the frontline, agree to end all Western arms support and give up on its ambitions to join the NATO military alliance.

Dnipropetrovsk is not among the five Ukrainian regions over which Russia has asserted a formal territorial claim.

It is an important mining and industrial hub for Ukraine and deeper Russian advances into the region could have a serious knock-on effect for Kyiv's struggling military and economy.

Dnipropetrovosk was estimated to have a population of around three million people before Russia launched its offensive. Around one million people lived in the regional capital, Dnipro.