Russia is not only waging war on the battlefield but is also actively attacking Ukraine in cyberspace, attempting to destabilize the work of state institutions, critical infrastructure, and the financial sector, Brig. Gen. Oleksandr Potii, head of Ukraine’s State Special Communications and Information Protection Service, in an exclusive interview with Kyiv Post on the sidelines of Kyiv’s 2025 International Cyber Resilience Forum.
“If you look at the public reports of our partners, we see that, unfortunately, the intensity of cyberattacks that may be linked to the Russian Federation remains high and is increasing,” he said.
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According to Potii, cybersecurity has become one of the key battlegrounds in the fight against Russian aggression: “Cybersecurity specialists are building a firewall against cyberattacks and cyber incidents,” he said.
Hacker groups associated with Russian state structures are targeting Ukraine’s governmental information resources, attempting to gain access to critically important data and disrupt the functioning of key systems.
Potii emphasized that Ukraine has significantly strengthened both its technical and manpower capability in the field of cybersecurity: “In the past three years, we have significantly increased our technical capabilities and improved our human potential.”
Between 2017 and 2020, the level of training and available technical equipment was much lower, but thanks to cooperation with international partners and the dedicated efforts of Ukrainian specialists, the situation has changed dramatically.
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“The specialists in our team today are not the same as those in 2020 or 2019. These are different people. They perceive these challenges differently,” he added.
The tactics of Russian hackers are constantly evolving, just like conventional warfare itself has since 2022. “The focus of attacks is changing, attack vectors are changing, approaches are changing,” Potii said.
In response, Ukrainian cybersecurity specialists are adapting to these changes and improving their defensive methodology.
Potii said that proving legal cases against Russia’s use of private hacker groups falls within the jurisdiction of law enforcement agencies such as the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Cyber Police.
“The State Service of Special Communications has a team that conducts technical research on cyberattacks and cyber incidents. But when it comes to attribution and legal evidence, that is the task of law enforcement agencies,” he explained.
According to Ukraine’s international partners, cyberattacks linked to Russia are aimed at weakening state structures, destabilizing the economy, and creating chaos in society.
“The aggressor’s focus of action is constantly shifting according to its plans. For a while, the main focus was on the energy sector. Then it shifted to logistics, and now it has returned to the state sector,” Potii said, adding that Ukraine’s defense-industrial complex is constantly targeted.
In general, Potii said that there are few cyberattacks on individual civilians, but the enemy concentrates its efforts on entire sectors. While attacks on the banking system can potentially affect individual clients, Ukraine’s banking system has a robust cybersecurity framework.
“Our banking system is stable at this time,” he said.
Summing up, Potii emphasized that Ukraine’s cybersecurity is advancing in three key areas: strengthening technical capability, developing its human resources, and improving the processes need to respond to changes in the enemy approach. This is allowing the country to effectively counter Russian cyberattacks and enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure.
Ukraine continues to resist the enemy not only on the battlefield but also in cyberspace.
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