Kremlin website goes down as Russian TV channels ‘hacked to play Ukrainian songs’

Hacking collective Anonymous announced it was ‘at war with Russia’ hours before the outage

The Kremlin’s website went down and Russian TV channels were “hacked to play Ukrainian songs” following a string of reported cyberattacks as Vladimir Putin’s attack on the country continued.

Ukraine’s state telecommunications agency announced on Saturday that six Russian government websites, including the Kremlin’s, were down, according to The Kyiv Independent.

The agency also stated that the Russian media regulator’s website had gone down, and that hackers had got Russian TV channels to play the Ukrainian music.

Hacking collective Anonymous took to Twitter on Saturday morning and said that it was “at war with Russia. Stay tuned.”

The latest move comes after the collective’s Twitter account declared on Thursday that the group was “currently involved in operations against the Russian Federation.”

“We want the Russian people to understand that we know it’s hard for them to speak out against their dictator for fear of reprisals,” they stated.

“We, as a collective want only peace in the world. We want a future for all of humanity. So, while people around the globe smash your internet providers to bits, understand that it’s entirely directed at the actions of the Russian government and Putin.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Ukraine’s armed forces had “derailed” Vladimir Putin’s plans to capture Kyiv.

Following intense fighting in Kyiv which saw an apartment building in the capital hit by a missile, president Zelensky remained defiant as he urged Ukrainians to defend the nation stating: “We will give you arms,” in a video address.

(AP)

“We have withstood and are successfully repelling enemy attacks. The fighting goes on,” the Ukrainian president said in an emotional speech.

The country’s state rail service also announced on Saturday that Ukrainian forces had blown up all rail lines linking the country with Russia.