KEY POINTS
- “Joker DPR” hacked Ukrainian Armed Forces’ DELTA troop management system
- Ukraine’s military chief said pro-Russian hackers have “no moral limitations”
- Hackers provided vital information about Ukrainian forces to Russia
Pro-Russian hackers took over the Instagram account of Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) on Thursday.
The hackers changed the official’s Instagram profile picture and posted a Joker meme saying they had breached the military’s DELTA troop management system.
A comment from Liudmyla Dolhonovska, a member of Zaluzhnyi’s office and responsible for strategic communications, confirmed to Ukrainska Pravda that the account had been hacked.
Zaluzhnyi has since regained access to his account following the incident. In a post on his account, the Armed Forces chief described the hackers as “cynical beasts who have no moral limitations.”
“The easiest thing is to hack my private Instagram, which is not related to professional activity, where only photos are of my children and family,” Zaluzhnyi said.
The incident came as the pro-Russian “Joker DPR” hacking team announced Tuesday they had hacked the DELTA system. The software, provided by the U.S. military, contains critical information on the coordinates of the Ukrainian and Russian forces.
Hackers posted several videos and screenshots showing the system.
Daniil Bezsonov, the press service chief of Russia-backed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), confirmed that they had obtained all information about Ukraine’s military plans.
“The fact that our special services can now access the system indicates that we know everything about the enemy. We know everything that the enemy knows about our forces and their deployment,” Bezsonov wrote in Telegram.
The war in Ukraine is now entering its ninth month. According to estimates from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 74,000 Russian military personnel have died on the battlefield.
