Ukraine war briefing: Russia accused of large-scale cyber-attack on Ukrainian authorities | Ukraine

Russia has been accused of carrying out a mass cyber-attack on Ukraine’s state registries. Ukrainian deputy prime minister Olha Stefanishyna said on Facebook late on Thursday: “Today the largest external cyber-attack in recent times occurred with Ukraine’s state registries. As a result of this targeted attack, the work of the unified and state registries, which are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, was temporarily suspended.” Stefanishyna said it was clear the attack was “carried out by the Russians to disrupt the work of the country’s critically important infrastructure” and work was proceeding to restore the systems. Russia did not immediately comment on the claim.

Vladimir Putin has said he was ready to meet Donald Trump and discuss peace proposals as he used a marathon phone-in event to claim that the war in Ukraine had made Russia “much stronger”. The Russian president said during the annual event that Moscow was “ready for negotiations and compromises” to end the fighting, but later he pointed to a maximalist position that would involve keeping Crimea and other occupied territories, Ukraine not joining Nato, and the lifting of sanctions by the west. He also denied that the fall of his key ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria had hurt Moscow’s standing.

An Uzbek citizen has been charged over the assassination of a senior Russian general and his assistant in a bombing claimed by Ukraine’s security services, Russian state media said on Thursday. Akhmadzhon Kurbonov was ordered detained by a Moscow court until at least 17 February, Tass state news agency reported, after Tuesday’s bombing that killed Lt Gen Igor Kirillov, the chief of Russia’s chemical weapons unit. Kurbonov is accused of the killings, carrying out a terrorist act and illegally manufacturing explosives, the Russian news agency reported.