The Russian government is planning “massive cyberattacks” against Ukrainian critical infrastructure facilities to “increase the effect of missile strikes on electrical supply facilities,” the Ukrainian government said Monday.
The Russians are also planning to “increase the intensity of the DDoS attacks on the critical infrastructure of Ukraine’s closest allies, primarily Poland and the Baltic state,” the country’s Defense Intelligence agency said in a statement posted to a Ukrainian government website.
“The experience of cyberattacks on Ukraine’s energy systems in 2015 and 2016 will be used when conducting operations,” the agency said in the statement. Russian military intelligence hackers infamously targeted the Ukrainian power grid in the 2016 “Industroyer” attack, which followed the December 2015 BlackEnergy attacks.
“By the cyberattacks, the enemy will try to increase the effect of missile strikes on electricity supply facilities, primarily in the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine,” the agency said Monday. “The occupying command is convinced that this will slow down the offensive operations of the Ukrainian Defence Forces.”
