KHARKIV, UKRAINE, Jan 25 — The SSU detained a resident of Kharkiv suspected of directing Russian missiles at the city and preparing cyberattacks on government websites, reported the SSU spokesman Vladyslav Abdula.
The suspect is a member of the Russian hacker group “People’s Cyber Army of the Russian Federation”. FSB controls this group. He also directed enemy attacks on the city and prepared cyberattacks on the websites of the Ukrainian government.
“Following a lead from the suspect, the Russian army launched two missile attacks on the civilian infrastructure of the regional center [Kharkiv — ed.]. A local hospital was among the damaged facilities,” Abdula said.
The suspect also conducted reconnaissance, relaying the locations of Defense Forces operations within the region, especially interested in positions of artillery units and locations of air defense systems.
Under the FSB orders, the hacker was preparing to launch a series of DDoS attacks on the websites of Ukrainian state-owned companies and government agencies.
Read more: Russian Missile Attack on January 23, in Photos: the Aftermath
The SSU officers detained the man during the counter-sabotage operation.
Investigators discovered that the FSB involved the IT specialist in cooperation through a Telegram channel for hackers.
“To gather intelligence, the young man was monitoring the area, covertly documenting locations where, in his opinion, Ukrainian defenders could be located. He relayed the information to the FSB through a popular messaging app in the form of screenshots of digital maps overlaid with coordinates of potential targets,” said Vladyslav Abdula.
The SSU confiscated mobile phones, a laptop, and flash drives during a search of the young man’s residence.
He has been issued a suspicion notice. He is now in custody and faces up to 12 years in prison.
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