The United States believes the Russian government was behind cyberattacks that knocked out the websites of Ukraine’s two largest banks earlier this week, U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger said Friday, amid heightened fears Russia could launch an invasion of Ukraine within days.
Neuberger said during a White House press briefing the U.S. has “technical information” linking the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU, to Tuesday’s distributed denial of service attacks.
Neuberger acknowledged it is “unusual” for the United States to attribute an attack to Russia this quickly, but the Biden Administration decided to do so out of “a need to call out the behavior quickly.”
Neuberger also said Russian cyber actors have “likely” targeted the Ukrainian government, including the Army and Defense Ministry, part of an effort to “collect intelligence and preposition to conduct disruptive cyber activities,” which could be leveraged if Russia takes military action against Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov blamed Russia for the cyberattacks, calling Russia the “only country that is interested in such strikes on our country,” but U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland stopped short of directly attributing the cyberattacks to Russia, though she noted Moscow has previously used similar tactics.
Russia denied any connection to the cyberattacks.
Tensions continue to run high along the Russia-Ukraine border, where U.S. officials say Russia has positioned roughly 150,000 troops. President Joe Biden said Friday he is “convinced” that Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine, with an incursion possibly starting in the next week. Russian state media outlet TASS reported Friday that a car belonging to a police official was bombed in Donetsk, a city in eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia-backed separatists, an incident that occurred one day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the U.N. Security Council Russia could stage a “false flag” operation to justify a potential invasion (no one was injured in the bombing). Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday it will withdraw tanks from the Ukrainian border, but U.S. officials alleged Thursday that Russia’s previous claims of a pullback from the Ukrainian border were a ruse, and American intelligence suggests there are now more Russian troops at the border than before.
The Biden Administration has said it will continue to seek a diplomatic solution, but ruled out accepting Moscow’s demand for the NATO alliance to promise not to admit Ukraine in the future.
Car Bombing Reported In Separatist East Ukraine Amid Fears Of False Flag Attack To Justify Russian Invasion (Forbes)
Russia Claims It’s Withdrawing More Tanks From Border Amid Fresh Ceasefire Violations In Eastern Ukraine (Forbes)
U.S. Says Russia Moved 7,000 New Troops Near Ukraine—Despite Claims Of De-Escalation (Forbes)
Cyberattacks knock out sites of Ukrainian army, major banks (Associated Press)
