China Accused of Hacking Ukraine Days before Russian Invasion

April 3, 2022

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Ukrainian intelligence suggests Beijing is complicit in Putin’s wars

When President Xi hosted President Putin at the start of the Winter Olympics in February they declared that their countries’ bond had “no limits”

China staged a huge cyberattack on Ukraine’s military and nuclear facilities in the build-up to Russia’s invasion, according to intelligence memos obtained by The Times.

More than 600 websites belonging to the defence ministry in Kyiv and other institutions suffered thousands of hacking attempts, according to the memos headed “Chinese Attacks on Ukrainian Government, Medical & Education Networks”.

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The campaign was co-ordinated by the Chinese government, a source at Ukraine’s security service, the SBU, said.

The source revealed that, in an apparent sign of complicity in the invasion, Chinese attacks started before the end of the Winter Olympics and peaked on February 23, the day before Russian troops and tanks crossed the border.

An SBU colonel said: “China showed they can block our sites