Ukraine’s largest mobile operator hit by major cyberattack

(Reuters) — Ukraine’s biggest mobile network operator was hit Tuesday by what appeared to be the largest cyberattack of the war with Russia so far, knocking out mobile and internet services for millions and the air raid alert system in parts of Kyiv region.

Kyivstar has 24.3 million mobile subscribers — more than half of Ukraine’s population — as well as over 1.1 million home internet subscribers.

Its CEO, Oleksandr Komarov, said the attack was “a result of” the war with Russia, although he did not say which Russian body he believed to be responsible, and that the company’s IT infrastructure had been “partially destroyed.”

“War is also happening in cyberspace. Unfortunately, we have been hit as a result of this war,” he told a national television broadcast.

Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency told Reuters one of the possibilities it was investigating was that of a cyberattack conducted by Russian security services.

Russia’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Komarov said it was unclear when Kyivstar would be able to restore connection.

“(The attack) significantly damaged (our) infrastructure, limited access, we could not counter it at the virtual level, so we shut down Kyivstar physically to limit the enemy’s access,” Mr. Komarov said.