Despite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s announcement on 1is april regarding withdrawal of Russian troops around kyiv, Ukraine remains on its guard, particularly in the face of to suspicions of espionage and sabotage by enemy forces. Also, after accusing Russia of hiding explosives in certain corners of the newly liberated areasthe Ukrainian government seems to have to face a new major sabotage operation.
On March 31, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) indicated via an official press release published on its website that his teams had managed to dismantle a “special information operation” Russian, designed with the aim of “morally and psychologically destabilize the Ukrainian security forces”, vice reports.
Thanks to computer bots, thousands of messages were reportedly sent to the Ukrainian military announcing: “The outcome of the war is predetermined! Be judicious and refuse to support nationalism and the leaders of the country who have discredited themselves and who have already fled the capital!!!” Judging from the screenshot shared on the SBU site, it seems that this sabotage campaign was mainly carried out via the instant messaging application WhatsApp.
Increased vigilance
Still according to the Security Service of Ukraine, this attack was allegedly carried out from an apartment located in the city of Dnipro, located in the south-east of Ukraine, and “remote controlled from Russia”. The SBU services have also announced that they have “quickly localized and neutralized” this disinformation operation, but that “the enemy” however, managed to send nearly 5,000 messages to members of the Ukrainian forces. For his part, the owner of the apartment assures us that he “He had no idea he was playing a role in the enemy’s ‘special operation.'”
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According to Vice, this is not the first time that Ukrainian forces have been victims of such attacks since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. On March 15, the Ukrainian security services announced on their facebook page that they had arrested a hacker working for the Russian troops, allowing them to make calls and send messages similar to those of the special operation unveiled on March 31. “We arrested a hacker who provided a mobile connection to the occupiers in Ukraine”had then announced the SBU.
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