Russian TV hacked to broadcast Zelensky’s speech vowing to liberate Crimea
Pro-Ukrainian saboteurs hacked into Russian television channels in Crimea overnight to air President Volodymyr Zelensky’s speech vowing to liberate the occupied peninsula.
In a further humiliation to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime, the pranksters renamed all 20 channels in Crimea’s IPTV network “Putin is a d—head,” as seen in videos shared online.
In his brief address to the people of Crimea, who have lived under Moscow’s control since the region was illegally annexed in 2014, Zelensky promised that the occupiers’ presence there “will not last forever.”
“Ukraine will return its territory, our people,” he said. “We will not leave anyone to the occupiers.”
The hackers also aired a pre-recorded message from Gen. Valerii Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, followed by a word from Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, the chief of Ukraine’s military intelligence.
“Crimea will be returned,” Budanov proclaimed. “Crimea is ours. There should be no Russia. It’s ours and no one else’s.”
The embarrassing hack attack was confirmed by Oleg Kryuchkov, an official in the Kremlin-backed administration of Crimea.
“Several Crimean Internet providers have been hacked by the enemy,” Kryuchkov wrote on his Telegram channel. “Technical services are working on this. All problems will be resolved in the near future.”
Kryuchkov blamed the breach on the Ukrainian Centre for Information and Psychological Special Operations.
Separately, Ukrainian hackers working with cyber-specialists at Ukraine’s Security Service also tempered with the website of Russia’s Ministry of Labor and Social Security and allegedly obtained a trove of classified information. reported RBC-Ukraine.
This is not the first time that Ukrainian hackers got the upper hand in the information war being waged in Crimea.
Back in June, broadcasts of two Russian cable channels were interrupted with a video from Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense showing soldiers staring into the camera while holding a finger to their lips
The eerie footage was accompanied by a message in Ukrainian that read: “Plans like silence. There will be no announcement that ‘it’s starting.’”
In February, two Crimean radio stations were breached to broadcast Ukraine’s national anthem, followed by a message from Budanov, who vowed that Kyiv’s forcer will free all the occupied territories and destroy “every traitor to Ukraine.”
