Ukraine's military denies Russian hack attack
Kiev (AFP) - Ukraine's military on Friday denied reports claiming Russia may have hacked targeting software for its heavy artillery in a breach that could have helped Moscow track and destroy Kiev's big guns.
The cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike -- the same one that discovered the Kremlin's alleged interference in the US election -- said in December it had evidence Russispying on Ukraine's forces inan hackers might have bolstered Moscow's the eastern war zone.
CrowdStrike said the malware was installed on software used to aim Ukraine's D-30 howitzer guns that were the backbone of the government's forces fighting Russian-backed insurgents for 31 months.
The conflict has claimed the lives of nearly 10,000 people and was one of the main factors why Moscow's relations with the West are at a post-Cold War low.
More reaction to Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Pinchuk's controversial commentary in The Wall Street Journal calling for reconciliation with Russia:
A tweet from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service:
Meanwhile, judging from this Reuters report, it looks like Ukraine could be in for a hard winter:
An expected sharp fall in temperatures in Ukraine could damage the country's winter grain crops because of a lack of snow cover on the fields, analyst UkrAgroConsult said on Thursday.
Meteorologists forecast a cold snap starting on Jan. 6 and predict that air temperatures will fall on average to 13-17 degrees Celsius below zero, perhaps even to minus 20 degrees.
"The current level of snow cover is insufficient for reliable protection of winter crops against frosts harsher than minus 15 degrees lasting for five days," it said in a statement.
"Survival of the upcoming frost by winter crops will entirely depend on the amount of snowfall in this period."