Classifying digital attacks as war crimes would be a novelty. Ukrainian officials are working to collect evidence of cyberattacks linked to military strikes for delivery to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, for the purpose of possible prosecutions for Russia’s actions.
Victor Zhora, one of Ukraine’s top cybersecurity officials, said that some cyberattacks on Ukrainian infrastructure could constitute war crimes, the outlet reports. politicalsince these would be directly related to the Russian military attacks against civilians.
“When we look at the situation in cyberspace, we notice some coordination between airstrikes and cyberattacks, and since most airstrikes hit civilians, which constitutes a war crime, support actions in cyberspace can be considered war crimes,” he argues with political.
Directed telecommunications and Internet networks
Ukraine cites in particular the attacks carried out by Russia against the largest private player in the country’s energy sector, last July. “Their thermal power plant was bombed even as their corporate network was attacked. This is a Russian-organized activity, carried out in both the conventional and digital domains,” the Ukrainian official said.
Another example mentioned was the coordinated activity in Odessa, Lviv and Mykolaiv, where the attacks “were accompanied by computer attacks against local authorities, websites or local Internet service providers,” it continued.
Ukraine directly evokes responsibility for Russian cyberattacks, insofar as they affect the civilian population above all: data storage, IT infrastructure, electrical networks or telecommunications are targets of Russian hackers.
Ukraine calls on the international community to discuss the impact of these attacks and how to respond to them. NATO officials have also said cyberattacks could “spill over” to other nations in the international body, fearing an escalation in the conflict.
Source: BFM TV
