Kyivstar destroyed by Russians - Vitaly Portnikov

However, the company itself denies the scale of the attack, which was caused by the so-called Russian hackers. However, it is clear that it was Russian efforts that were behind the intentions to interrupt Kyivstar's operations, which will now resume indefinitely.

There is talk of a day to a week for the restoration of this work, but it is clear that the extent of the damage is so significant that it is hardly possible to say with certainty when Kyivstar will be able to return to full service to its subscribers. Thus, we can state that the Russian Federation has not only moved to a full-fledged cyber war with Ukraine, but also boasts of the results of this war and is not going to hide them.

We can say that there are no independent hackers in Russia. Moreover, Russian intelligence services can use the services of foreign hacker groups to achieve their goals of destabilizing the situation in the countries with which Russia is fighting, because the hacker attack on the Ukrainian cellular network is not the first hacker attack by Russians on the countries of the civilized world. Perhaps the largest one, but one that only reminds us that the Russian Federation is ready to wage war on all fronts, and their armed forces are just one of the tools that Russian President Vladimir Putin uses to destabilize the civilized world and restore Russian spheres of influence, which, in the view of Putin and his entourage, were illegitimately taken away by the West after the collapse of the communist empire in 1991.

Hacker warfare, which can destroy the infrastructure of countries against which Russia is waging aggressive actions, shows that Moscow is aware of the importance of modern warfare and has carefully prepared for it before starting its battle to restore the communist empire in its new criminal chauvinistic version, which is the main political goal of both Putin himself and the majority of Russians who support their leader's aggressive policy.

The Russians did not start pretending that they had nothing to do with the decline in Kyivstar's capabilities, that the company was a victim of its own technical problems, or, as they began to say on social media, that it was preparing for a possible nationalization due to the fact that Kyivstar's owners included Russian oligarchs under sanction. No, the Russians absolutely do not need Ukrainians to go on some kind of a back road and come up with theories that Russian special services and their hacker units are responsible.

After all, an important goal of the Russian attack on Kyivstar is not just to destabilize the situation in the neighboring country, which, from the point of view of Putin and his entourage, should soon become part of Russia after its final conquest. It is necessary that the citizens of Ukraine are subjected to Russian attacks not only from the air, with the help of troops, which, as we can see, can do little and were forced to stop their aggressive actions last November.

Ukrainians must realize that Russia will fight them by all possible means, combine violence, and not allow them to live a single day in peace, because, as you know, peaceful, quiet life in Ukrainian cities during the war irritated the Russians, created incredible hysteria among Russian propagandists, and they demanded that their own leadership do everything possible to ensure that the peaceful, quiet life of Ukrainians, the main achievement of the Ukrainian Armed Forces during this war, was interrupted by panic and fear.

That is why last year, Russians attacked civilian infrastructure, trying to make life unbearable for Ukrainians in the cold and dark. That is why the Russians are continuing their efforts to destroy Ukrainian infrastructure right now.

However, as there are not many opportunities to strike civilian infrastructure with missiles and drones, they are also looking to use other areas of the fight against Ukraine. And we see how, on the one hand, a hacker attack destroys an entire cellular network, and on the other hand, we witness a ballistic missile strike on the Ukrainian capital.

It is obvious that those who planned this strike were thinking, first, about certain infrastructure goals that remained unrealized due to the work of the Ukrainian air defense system, and second, about the need to increase fear and apathy in Ukrainian society, to make Ukrainians believe that only capitulation to Putin's Russia can be an alternative to many years of living in hopelessness and waiting for new Russian attacks.

The only real response to these actions of the Russian political leadership and people can only be to keep the line, to realize that there is no alternative but to resist Russian efforts to conquer Ukraine, no matter how many months or years these brazen efforts of the neighboring state continue. The Russians do not hide the fact that it is they who are committing crimes, and, unfortunately, it is impossible to negotiate with a criminal, no matter what illusions either our Western partners or our compatriots may have about them.

There will be no agreements with Russia. The option of ending the war without Russia exists and is on the tables of both Ukrainian and Western leaders. It is only necessary to comprehend this option and realize how peaceful life will return to Ukraine in the 20s or 30s of this century.

Source

About the author. Vitaly Portnikov, journalist, winner of the Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine.

The editors don't always share the opinions expressed by the authors of the blogs.