Ukraine has accused Russia of mounting sweeping cyberattacks throughout the war and before the invasion, including an attack on the main mobile operator Kyivstar that paralysed the service for several days in December, impacting more than 24 million users. Russia also attempted to cripple Ukraine’s power system in March 2022, shortly after the invasion.

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According to the Centre for European Policy Analysis, Russia has scaled up cyberattacks on Ukraine, but these have diminished in their efficacy as Kyiv has strengthened security for its systems.

During the first half of 2023, Russian cyberattacks increased by 123 per cent compared to the previous six months, according to Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection (SSSCIP), but it reported that the number of critical incidents declined by 81 per cent.

Last month, US agencies including the FBI, National Security Agency and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, reported that hackers in Russia’s GRU military intelligence service had carried out attacks on NATO and European countries as well as Ukraine, as early as 2020.

A grand jury in Maryland, US, last month indicted five Russian GRU operatives and another Russian in cyberattacks against Ukraine that were designed to pave the way for the 2022 invasion, targeting the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, State Treasury, Judiciary Administration, State Portal for Digital Services, Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Energy and others.

Putin’s birthday drew a coordinated outpouring of birthday wishes, including greetings from officials and video messages from schools around the country.

Conservative businessman Konstantin Malofeyev posted on Telegram a “Salute in honour of the Supreme Leader’s birthday from Stalin’s bunker,” referring to Bunker GO-42 in Moscow, a former Cold War underground emergency nuclear command headquarters for Joseph Stalin in the event of a nuclear war, that now functions as a museum.

Ultranationalist figure Alexander Dugin posted, “God save the Tsar!” on his Telegram channel. “Putin rules the country confidently and unhurriedly.”

The Washington Post