Russia-Ukraine war: Kremlin's website down amid reports of cyberattacks

Amid the Russia-Ukraine war, the official website of the Kremlin was reportedly down and inaccessible on Saturday, February 26. This comes following reports of cyberattacks on multiple websites of the Russian government and state media. On Saturday evening, the official Twitter handle of the President of Russia tweeted about Vladimir Putin's conversation with Kyrgyzstan's President Sadyr Japarov. The post also provided the link to the Kremlin's website (kremlin.ru), however, it could not be accessed by users. This was the last post before the website went down. Apart from Kremlin's website, six other Russian government websites have gone down, The Jerusalem Post reported. 

"Ukraine’s telecoms agency also announced that the Russian media regulator’s site was down and that Russian TV channels had been hacked to broadcast Ukrainian songs," The Kyiv Independent wrote on Twitter. Last week, the Russian Embassy to the United States claimed that Moscow was not involved in the recent cyberattacks on Ukrainian banks. The Embassy's statement came after the US accused Russia of carrying out cyberattacks on Ukraine.

US accuses Russia of conducting cyberattacks in Ukraine

According to senior US official Anne Neuberger, Washington believes Russian cyber hackers have recently targeted Ukrainian government entities. Earlier, Neuberger stated in her briefing that the United States has provided cyber intelligence to Ukraine and its European partners, accusing Russia of being involved in recent attacks on major Ukrainian banks.

However, the Russian embassy in the US has denied the allegations. "We categorically reject these baseless allegations and Russia has never conducted and does not conduct any "malicious" operations in cyberspace," the Russian Embassy stated in a tweet. 

Russia-Ukraine war

Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, which subsequently extended across the country. The Russian Defence Ministry claimed the attacks were conducted only on objects of military infrastructure of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, excluding damage to residential and social infrastructure.

However, Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Lyashko, stated that the Russian onslaught has killed at least 198 people and injured more than 1,000 others, including children. 

(Image: AP/Pixabay)