2024-08-21 13:05:00
A ” massive breakdown ” affected the Telegram and WhatsApp messaging services in Russia between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. (French time), announced the Russian telecoms regulator, Roskomnadzor, on Wednesday, specifying that« an attack » IT is at the origin of this « incident » rare.
« Since 2 p.m. (local time), the Public Communications Network Control and Monitoring Center has recorded a massive outage in the operation of the Telegram and WhatsApp messaging services. “, Roskomnadzor said in a laconic statement.
A few minutes later, the Russian telecoms regulator indicated that these disruptions were linked to ” DDoS attack on Russian telecom operators ».
DDoS attacks, “ by denial of service “, are a relatively simple method of crashing a system by overwhelming it with requests. At 3 p.m. (2 p.m. in Paris), the attack was repelled and services are operating normally. “, Roskomnadzor said in this second statement, which did not identify the author of this cyberattack.
Such a cyber incident is rare in Russia. Since the start of its assault on Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin has significantly strengthened its grip on the digital sector, affected by Western sanctions. The Russian authorities have also increased their control over the Internet, banning a number of Western sites and social networks where Kremlin critics could express themselves freely, such as Facebook, Instagram and X. However, these resources remain accessible from Russia using a VPN.
Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow
Although the author of the attack observed this Wednesday has not been named, this computer failure comes at a time when the city of Moscow said it was targeted during the night by the ” one of the most important » Ukrainian drone attacks in its history. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, ” Eleven drones were destroyed » over the territory of the capital and its region during the night.
In total, during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, 45 Ukrainian drones were destroyed by Russian air defense systems over the regions of Moscow (11), Bryansk (23), Belgorod (6), Kaluga (3) and Kursk (2), the Russian Defense Ministry detailed in a press release.
Also on Wednesday, the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, Mykola Oleshchuk, said that anti-aircraft defenses had shot down 50 explosive drones and a missile launched by Russia against its territory during the night. The head of the military administration of Kiev, Sergiy Popko, specified on Telegram that 10 of them had been intercepted while they were ” were heading towards the capital » Ukrainian. « The air raid lasted all night and into the morning, for more than 9 hours. ” in total, according to the authorities of the kyiv region.
Russia, which launched a large-scale assault on Ukraine in February 2022, has been facing an unprecedented Ukrainian offensive in its border region of Kursk since August 6. The city of Moscow and its region, located more than 500 km from the Ukrainian border, have already been targeted by rare drone attacks. During the summer of 2023, devices were destroyed above the capital’s business district, and in May 2023, two devices suffered the same fate near the Kremlin, in the heart of Moscow.
Elections postponed
Faced with the advance of the Ukrainian army, local elections scheduled for early September have been postponed in seven municipalities in the Russian region of Kursk, electoral authorities announced on Wednesday.
« The Central Election Commission supported the proposal of the Kursk region election commission to postpone elections (…) in seven municipalities ” she said in a statement. Preparations for the elections will resume ” as soon as it is possible to fully ensure the safety of voters “, according to the same source.
The elections for the governor of the Kursk region will be held, the Central Election Commission said, recalling that these will be early elections held from August 28 to September 5.
Russia advances in southern Ukraine
Moscow claimed responsibility on Wednesday for the village of Jelanné, located in the Ukrainian region of Donetsk (east) about twenty kilometers from Pokrovsk, an important logistical hub towards which Russian troops are slowly advancing. Units of the Central Group liberated the town of Jelannoye “, the Russian name for Jelanné, the Russian Defense Ministry said in its daily report.
While the Ukrainian military offensive launched on August 6 in the Russian region of Kursk is receiving much attention because it brings hostilities to the attacker’s soil, the epicenter of the fighting remains eastern Ukraine, where the Kremlin’s troops, better equipped and more numerous, continue to advance.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made capturing the entire Donbass, which includes the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, a priority. In recent days, the Russian military has claimed control of several villages near the town of Pokrovsk, a major logistics hub southwest of the Ukrainian strongholds of Chassiv Yar and Kostiantynivka.
(With AFP)
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