Ukraine's Defense Ministry Says Website Targeted By Cyberattacks

A screengrab of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's website taken on December 13.

Ukraine's Defense Ministry says its website was temporarily knocked out of service by cyberattacks that appeared to be aimed at preventing the release of news about Kyiv’s conflict in eastern regions with Russia-backed separatists.

Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said the website was regularly targeted on December 13 by denial-of-service attacks.

Motuzyanyk said it was not clear who was responsible for the latest attack, but the situation had been brought under control.

Ukraine's Finance Ministry and State Treasury websites were attacked a week earlier.

The Finance Ministry blamed hackers who it said were trying to discredit the government's reform drive.

At the end of 2015, Ukraine's State Security Service (SBU) said Russia was responsible for a cyberattack on its power grid that temporarily shut off electricity to part of western Ukraine.

Based on reporting by Reuters and unian.info