EDITORIAL: Silencing a Ukrainian TV station through digital means is also an act of war

Maxime Marquette

2026-07-20 15:35:00

The website remained online despite the intensity of the attack

Despite the scale of this cyberattack, SBU cybersecurity specialists managed to keep the network’s website operational without interruption—a technical achievement that reflects sustained investments in Ukraine’s defensive capabilities since the start of the conflict.

This defensive success, achieved in a country where resources are constantly strained by conventional war efforts, deserves recognition that extends far beyond specialized information technology circles.

A success that must not obscure the gravity of the threat

Celebrating this technical resilience, however, must not lead us to downplay the gravity of the intent behind this attack: a determined adversary, with considerable resources at its disposal, is actively seeking to deprive Ukraine of its means of independent information.

This tension between a one-off defensive success and a persistent structural threat must remain at the center of any serious analysis of this digital war, which shows no signs of slowing down after more than four years of conflict.

I sincerely commend the SBU’s technical expertise in this specific incident, while rejecting any premature triumphalism. Winning a single battle never means that the digital war against Ukraine is coming to an end.

The 2025 precedent that could have changed everything

A Propaganda Hijacking Attempt Narrowly Thwarted

In 2025, another Ukrainian television group was targeted by a far more insidious attack: a phishing campaign followed by an attempt to infiltrate its infrastructure, with the ultimate goal of taking control of the media outlet to broadcast Russian propaganda under its legitimate name.

SBU specialists detected this intrusion in time, preventing a scenario that could have deceived hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian viewers who would have been convinced they were watching authentic, verified content.

What This Incident Reveals About Moscow’s True Intentions

This incident illustrates a disturbing truth: Moscow’s objective is not limited to temporarily disrupting access to information; in some cases, it aims to hijack the very credibility of Ukrainian media outlets to turn their voice against their own audience.

This ambition, far more serious than a simple server overload, should be understood as a deliberate attempt at mass manipulation rather than an isolated act of technical sabotage.

The idea of a Ukrainian broadcaster airing Kremlin propaganda under its own name, unbeknownst to its audience, is a scenario that should send a chill down the spine of anyone who still believes in the value of free information in times of war.

The Shadow of Russian Military Intelligence Behind These Attacks

Unit 29155, a Key Player in This Hybrid War

Several of these campaigns bear the hallmarks of Unit 29155 of Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU—a unit initially conceived as a cyber arm before expanding its scope to include other hostile operations against Ukraine, such as spear-phishing campaigns targeting President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office and several ministries.

Even before the full-scale invasion, this same unit had deployed the destructive software WhisperGate, designed to wipe data from Ukrainian computer systems—further evidence that preparations for this war unfolded simultaneously on both the military and digital fronts.

A chain of responsibility that leads directly back to the Russian state

These attacks are not the work of independent hackers acting on their own initiative: they are part of a strategy coordinated by Russian military intelligence services, which directly implicates the Russian state in these information destabilization operations.

This state responsibility, documented by several Western intelligence agencies over the years, must be taken into account in any future assessment of sanctions and accountability measures imposed on Moscow for all of its actions during this conflict.

It is not simply isolated hackers attacking Ukrainian television; it is the Russian military apparatus itself. This distinction changes everything in terms of how the West should characterize and sanction these acts.

Ukraine's Response: A Balance Between Technology and Human Development

A Resilience Program That Goes Beyond Technology Alone

In response to this persistent threat, the SBU launched a cybersecurity resilience program for local and regional media, in partnership with Ukraine’s National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting, training nearly 450 participants at 20 regional locations covering the country’s 21 oblasts.

This program recognizes a fundamental truth that is too often overlooked: the best cyber defense relies not only on sophisticated firewalls, but also on journalists and media managers trained to recognize and respond to intrusion attempts.

A lesson applicable far beyond Ukraine’s borders

This combined technical and human-centered approach offers a model that other democracies would do well to study, as attempts at disinformation and digital sabotage by hostile state actors are no longer limited to the Ukrainian theater alone.

Ignoring this lesson would amount to underestimating the adaptability required to confront adversaries who, like Russia, invest considerable resources in the continuous refinement of their information warfare methods.

This combination of technology and human training implemented by the SBU should serve as an inspiration to every Western democracy. The best cyberdefense is never purely technological; it is also deeply human.

What This Attack Reveals About the Nature of Modern Warfare

A Digital Front That Never Sleeps

This attack on a Ukrainian television station, as specific as it may be, illustrates a broader reality of modern warfare: the physical and digital fronts are no longer separate; they operate in parallel, each reinforcing the other’s destabilizing effect on the targeted society.

This convergence of military and digital dimensions demands an equally integrated response from Ukraine and its Western allies, where the defense of information has become as strategic as the defense of physical territory.

A threat the West can no longer afford to ignore

Western democracies, faced with similar attempts at disinformation and digital sabotage originating from Russia, China, and other authoritarian regimes, must draw direct lessons from the Ukrainian experience to strengthen their own defenses before it is too late.

This heightened vigilance is not an optional luxury; it is a structural necessity to preserve the integrity of information in democratic societies that are increasingly dependent on their digital infrastructure.

This digital war against Ukraine is a warning that the West would do well to heed before it is too late. What is happening today to a Ukrainian television station could very well happen tomorrow to our own media.

Financial institutions: an equally revealing parallel target

A Vital Sector Targeted with the Same Intensity

The media are not the only victims of this Russian campaign documented by the SBU: Ukrainian financial institutions are also among the top targets, as a successful attack on this sector could paralyze day-to-day transactions and directly impact citizens’ daily lives in the midst of war.

This parallel targeting of the media and financial institutions reveals a coherent strategy: to simultaneously destabilize access to verified information and erode confidence in economic stability—two essential pillars of a country’s social resilience during wartime.

A Coordinated Defense Across Multiple Critical Sectors

This convergence of targets has prompted the SBU to coordinate its defensive response across multiple critical sectors simultaneously—a cross-sectoral approach necessary when facing an adversary that respects no sectoral boundaries in its choice of targets.

This cross-sector coordination, though rarely highlighted in media coverage of this digital war, is a key element of the overall resilience that Ukraine has had to develop since 2022.

This coordinated attack on the media and financial institutions confirms that Moscow is targeting Ukraine’s social stability as a whole, not just an isolated target. It is a total war, waged by all available means.

What the West Should Learn Immediately from This Incident

Ukrainian expertise that should be shared more widely

The experience gained by the SBU in dealing with more than 16,000 cyberattacks demonstrates practical expertise in cyberdefense that few Western countries possess at this level of intensity—a strategic resource that should be shared more actively with Ukraine’s partners.

This knowledge-sharing, already underway within certain bilateral cooperation frameworks, should be expanded to include all Western institutions facing similar attempts at digital destabilization by hostile state actors.

An urgent matter that should not wait for a major crisis to be taken seriously

All too often, Western decision-makers only pay serious attention to cyber defense after suffering a major attack themselves—a reactive approach that contrasts with the proactive stance that the Ukrainian experience should inspire.

Adopting the lessons from this Ukrainian digital war now could spare other democracies from paying, later on, the same price that Kyiv had to pay to build its current resilience.

I cannot stress this point enough: waiting for a major crisis before strengthening our cyber defense would be an unforgivable strategic mistake. Ukraine is already providing us, at great cost, with all the lessons we need.

Conclusion: Defending information means defending democracy

A battle that goes far beyond the technical realm

This attack—involving 200,000 requests per minute against a Ukrainian television network—is not merely a technical feat thwarted by the SBU; it is a symptom of a broader war in which information itself has become a battlefield in its own right.

Recognizing this reality, documenting it accurately, and actively supporting Ukraine’s cyberdefense efforts is a responsibility that the West can no longer afford to treat as a secondary issue in the face of the apparent urgency of the conflict’s physical fronts.

A Call for Collective Vigilance

Faced with an adversary that has repeatedly demonstrated its determination to silence or hijack Ukrainian media outlets, the best response remains strengthened technical and political solidarity between Kyiv and its Western partners—without letting up or succumbing to information fatigue.

I conclude with a simple conviction: every Ukrainian server that withstands a Russian attack also indirectly protects the ability of Western democracies to understand what is truly at stake in this war. Ignoring this digital front would be a mistake that history would not easily forgive.

Signed, Maxime Marquette, columnist