4,500 Russian cyber-attacks have been carried out against Ukraine, the head of the cyber-security department at the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) accused on Monday (December 26th). Ukraine has also called for Russia’s withdrawal from the United Nations.
- Russia will not sell oil to countries using the price cap
Russia will ban from February 1, 2023 the sale of its oil to foreign countries that use the cap on the price of Russian black gold, set in early December at 60 dollars per barrel by the EU, the G7 and Australia.
“The delivery of Russian oil and oil products to foreign legal entities and other individuals is prohibited” if they use the ceiling price, is it written in a decree signed Tuesday by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- 4,500 Russian cyberattacks against Ukraine
Ukraine’s cybersecurity services have neutralized more than 4,500 Russian cyberattacks against their country since the start of the year, an official charged on Monday. In an interview with the TV channel “My-Ukraine”, Ilya Vitiuk, head of the cyber-security department at the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), “the aggressor country launches an average of more than ten cyber-attacks per Fortunately, Ukrainian society is not even aware of most of them”.
“We entered 2022 with eight years of hybrid warfare experience behind us,” he added. “At the time of the invasion, we were already prepared for the worst-case scenarios.” According to him, nearly 800 cyber attacks were recorded in 2020, more than 1,400 in 2021 and in 2022 this number tripled.
Massive cyber attacks were repelled in January and February and provided us with additional training before the Russian invasion at the end of February, continued Ilya Vitiuk. According to him, Moscow targets in particular the energy sector, logistics, military installations, as well as government databases and information resources.
“We monitor risks and threats in real time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” he said. “We know by name most of the Russian special services hackers who are working against us. After Ukraine’s victory, they will have to appear before an international military tribunal.”
- Ukraine calls for Russia’s exclusion from the United Nations
Ukraine called on Monday for the exclusion of Russia from the United Nations, more than ten months after the start of the invasion of Russian troops, a request with little chance of success, Moscow having a right veto in the UN Security Council.
“Ukraine calls on UN member states (…) to deprive the Russian Federation of its status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and to exclude it from the UN as a whole” , the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
According to Ukrainian diplomacy, Russia “illegally occupies the seat of the USSR in the UN Security Council” since 1991 and the dislocation of the Soviet Union into 15 new countries. “Russia is a usurper of the seat” of the USSR at the United Nations, argued the Ukrainian ministry.
These “three decades of illegal presence in the UN have been marked by wars and the seizure of territories from other countries, a forced change of internationally recognized borders and attempts to satisfy its neo-imperial ambitions”, kyiv lamented in this release.
- Ukrainian drone shot down by Russians
Russia on Monday accused Ukraine of attacking its territory, including launching a drone against an air base in Russian territory, hundreds of kilometers from the front, the second such operation this month. According to Russian news agencies, this Ukrainian drone was shot down as it approached the Engels base in the Saratov region at night, some 600 km from Ukraine.
“As a result of the fall of the wreckage of the drone, three Russian technicians who were on the airfield were fatally injured”, according to the TASS agency quoting the Ministry of Defense.
- Ukrainian “saboteurs” “eliminated”
The Russian security services (FSB) also claimed to have “eliminated” Ukrainian “saboteurs” who were trying to enter the Russian region of Bryansk from Ukraine. “Following armed clashes on December 25, four saboteurs were eliminated,” said the FSB, which is also in charge of border protection.
- A summit for peace in February?
In an interview at AssociatedPress, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba mentioned on Monday 26 December the organization of a peace summit in February, with the UN as mediator. Secretary General Antonio Guterres nevertheless plans to meet with Moscow on the sole condition that Russia is first brought before a tribunal for war crimes.