Cyberattack hits Kyiv, knocking out phone and internet service

KYIV — A large-scale cyberattack hit Ukraine on Tuesday, crippling Kyivstar, the country’s largest mobile phone provider, and knocking out service to more than 24 million subscribers both in the war-ravaged country and abroad, where millions have fled Russia’s invasion.

In some parts of the country, the loss of mobile phone and internet service cut off early-warning air raid systems used to alert citizens of imminent Russian missile and drone strikes. The cyberstrike also shut down some bank machines.

Ukraine’s intelligence service, the SBU, said that it was investigating the possibility “that the special services of the Russian Federation may be behind this hacker attack.” In a news statement, the SBU said that it had opened criminal investigations into the incident, including charges of treason, sabotage, and “planning, preparation, unleashing and waging an aggressive war.”

The attack took place Tuesday morning in Ukraine, hours before President Volodymyr Zelensky was set in Washington to meet US lawmakers and President Biden in an urgent bid to drum up some $60 billion in crucially needed aid.

The hacking underscored the continuing threat to Ukraine’s statehood, as political infighting between Democrats and Republicans in Washington risks cutting off aid to Ukraine from its most important ally.

The war in Ukraine has combined elements of World War I-style trench warfare with 21st-century high-tech weaponry, including swarms of explosive drones, many controlled using live feeds over the internet. Russia has repeatedly sought to disrupt internet service in Ukraine, forcing the country’s military to rely heavily on Starlink, the satellite internet system operated by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX.

The attack raised the prospect that a large number of Ukrainians would not be able to use a smartphone application warning of air raid alerts, tools many depend on since street sirens are not always audible. The apps still work if telephones are connected to Wi-Fi.

Kyiv’s city administration said on Telegram that the cyberattack did “not affect the stability of the air alert system in the capital.”

Some regional officials said that early-warning air raid sirens were fully or…