Ukraine announced on Tuesday that a cyberattack targeting the country’s defence ministry and armed forces, as well as two state banks, had been launched.
Ukraine’s communications watchdog made the declaration as the former Soviet republic braces for an attack from Russian forces conducting large military rehearsals near its borders.
The Oschadbank state savings bank and Privat24, two of the country’s largest financial institutions, are among the sites affected.
The military ministry’s website was down due to “technical maintenance,” according to an error message.
Privat24 was the victim of a “massive denial of service (DDOS) attack,” according to the watchdog.
“It cannot be ruled out if the attacker is employing dirty tactics,” the watchdog stated of Russia.