"To date, all evidence points to Russia being behind the cyberattack," Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation said in a statement.

The cyberattack carried out overnight from Thursday to Friday targeted the sites of several Ukrainian ministries, which remained inaccessible for several hours.

This sabotage, according to the ministry, "is a manifestation of the hybrid war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine since 2014", the year of the annexation of Crimea by Moscow, which was followed by an ongoing conflict between the forces of Kiev and pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country (more than 13,000 dead).

The aim is "not only to intimidate society", but also to "destabilize the situation in Ukraine" by "undermining Ukrainians' confidence in their power" with "false information about the vulnerability of state IT structures". , according to the ministry.

Kiev and its Western allies accuse Moscow of having deployed nearly 100,000 soldiers on its border for an aggression.

According to experts, a possible invasion could be preceded by computer sabotage aimed at disorganizing the Ukrainian authorities.

Breakdown of talks

In this unstable context, the return scheduled for Monday, after a month of absence, of the former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko (2014-2019) risks causing a political crisis.

Main rival of current President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr Poroshenko is accused by Kiev of "high treason" for having traded with pro-Russian separatists in the East.

Several talks between Russia and the West this week have failed to calm tensions.

"In general, on questions of principle, we can now say that we remain on totally divergent positions (...)," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview broadcast on Sunday by the American channel. CNN.

Washington will decide at the beginning of the week on the future of these talks.

"If Russia wants to continue on the diplomatic path, we are completely ready for it (...) If Russia chooses the path of invasion and escalation, we are ready for it also with a firm response", warned on the chain CBS the adviser to the national security of the United States, Jake Sullivan.

"We are ready for all scenarios".

"You have to understand that the aggressor is Russia," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told the Canadian public broadcaster CBC on Sunday.

"Russia must start a de-escalation", but we must also "send to Russia the message that we are ready to discuss and listen to its concerns", he added.

The United States on Friday accused Moscow - which denied - of having deployed agents in charge of "sabotage" operations in Ukraine in order to create a "pretext" for an invasion.

"Nobody is threatening anyone with military action (...) It would be madness," assured Dmitry Peskov on CNN.

“But we will be ready to retaliate” if NATO rejects Russian demands.

Russia is calling for "guarantees" aimed, according to it, at ensuring its security, starting with a commitment from NATO not to accept Kiev as a member.

Microsoft Disclaimer

Mr. Peskov denied any role of his country in the cyberattack.

"We had nothing to do with it," he said.

On Friday, the Ukrainian Secret Service (SBU) said the attacks targeted 70 government websites, ten of which were subject to "unauthorized interference", but "their content was not modified and no leaks of personal data has taken place".

But US IT giant Microsoft warned on Sunday that the massive cyberattack could render the Ukrainian government's entire IT structure inoperable.

Even if the detected malware resembles ransomware, which generally blocks access to the computer by demanding the payment of a ransom, it actually aims "to destroy and render inoperable the targeted sites, and not to recover a ransom," Microsoft wrote on its blog.

Additionally, the attack appears to have targeted more organizations than initially thought.

"We have found this malware on dozens of systems belonging to the government, but also to NGOs and information technology organizations, all based in Ukraine. At this stage, we cannot say what the operational cycle of this malware is. attack, or how many other organizations may fall victim to it," Microsoft said.

The group said it could not identify the origin of the attacks at this time.

© 2022 AFP