‘Be afraid’: Cyberattack in Ukraine targets government websites.

‘Be afraid’: Cyberattack in Ukraine targets government websites.

A massive cyberattack left Ukrainian government websites temporarily unavailable on Friday, officials said.

While it was not clear who was behind the cyberattack, the disruption came amid heightened tensions with Russia and after talks between Moscow and the West failed to yield any significant progress this week.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko told The Associated Press news agency it was too soon to tell who could have been behind the attack, but there is a long record of Russian cyber-assaults against Ukraine in the past.

Moscow has previously denied involvement in cyberattacks against Ukraine.

While it was not immediately clear who was behind the attacks, they come amid heightened tensions with Russia and after talks between Moscow and the West failed to yield any significant progress this week.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc is ready to mobilise resources to improve Ukraine’s capacity to weather cyberattacks.

Borrell added that he would ask member countries to allow Ukraine benefit from anti-cyberattacks resources, even though the country is not a member of the union.

Asked who could be behind the attack, Borrell said: I can’t point at anybody because I have no proof, but one can imagine.

Again, Russia had previously denied involvement in cyberattacks against Ukraine.

Tensions between Ukraine and Russia have been running high in recent months after Moscow amassed an estimated 100,000 soldiers near Ukraine’s border, stoking fears of an invasion.

Russia has a long history of launching aggressive cyber-operations against Ukraine, including a hack of its voting system ahead of the 2014 national elections and an assault on the country’s power grid in 2015 and 2016.

In 2017, Russia unleashed one of the most damaging cyberattacks on record with the NotPetya virus that targeted Ukrainian businesses and caused more than $10bn in damage globally.

Cybersecurity was one of the main issues on the agenda of a summit meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden last June.

The Biden administration has backed the newest bill, which includes measures to strengthen Ukraine’s border security and sanction top Russian officials – even President Vladimir Putin.