On 18 February 2024, several prominent Ukrainian online media outlets were targeted in cyber attacks which they said were likely orchestrated by Russian sources, these media reported. Ukrainska Pravda, one of Ukraine’s most popular online media, said that unknown sources had hacked its account on X (formerly Twitter) and started publishing what the outlet said was fake information unconfirmed by Ukrainian authorities on an alleged “crushing defeat” of elite Ukrainian units at the hands of Russian forces. In a statement, Ukrainska Pravda said that it was attempting to regain access to its X account, asking readers to consider all information published there as not related to the outlet.
The “crushing defeat” was said to have occurred in the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, located in the country’s eastern Donetsk region, which had been under siege by Russian forces for several months. Avdiivka was located near the frontline separating Ukrainian forces from pro-Russian ones since the beginning of the war in Donbas in 2014. One day before the attack, on February 17, the Ukrainian army confirmed that Ukrainian forces had withdrawn from the town.
A highly similar news piece to that on the page of Ukrainska Pravda was published earlier in the day on the website of Liga.net, another leading Ukrainian online media outlet. In a statement, Liga.net said that its website had been hacked and that is was not reponsible for “Russian disinformation” on Avdiivka. The outlet said that it had quickly deleted the news piece, however the text was active for a period of time and had been automatically reposted on Liga.net’s account on X.
An article on the same topic was also published on the website of Apostrophe, another national media outlet in Ukraine. In a statement, Apostrophe also said that it had been hacked and that it believed the event was part of a Russian disinformation campaign. The media outlet called upon its readers to “consume information responsibly”. An identical incident also occurred on the website of online media outlet Telegraf, which said that it had been hacked. Telegraf also mentioned the fact that several other Ukrainian media outlets had been hacked with the same intent.
On the following day, February 19, hackers also briefly gained access to the satellite broadcasts of Espreso, a leading Ukrainian TV station. Unknown sources, which Espreso linked to Russia, broadcast a short video with footage of destroyed Ukrainian cities, as well as a video with Joe Biden and a call “to stop”, alluding to the alleged involvement of the United States in the war in Ukraine.
“We regret that our viewers could see this provocative video on air. Russia is solely responsible for the war in Ukraine. This is an obvious fact that the authors of the video tried to pervert. This makes it clear that Russians are involved in the attack on Espresso,” the TV channel’s representatives said. Espreso added that additional security measures had been taken following the incident, and that the channel was preparing to report the case to law enforcement authorities.