Ukraine defence ministry, state banks' sites under cyberattack

Ukraine said on Tuesday that the sites of the country's defence ministry and armed forces as well as two state banks were hit by a cyberattack that could have Russian origins.

The announcement from Ukraine's communications watchdog comes with the former Soviet republic fearing a possible attack from Russian forces conducting massive military drills at its frontiers.

The affected sites include the Oschadbank state savings bank and Privat24 -- two of the country's largest financial institutions.

The defence ministry site showed an error message saying the site was "undergoing technical maintenance".

The watchdog said Privat24 was hit by "a massive denial of service (DDOS) attack".

"It cannot be excluded that the aggressor is resorting to dirty tricks," the watchdog said in reference to Russia.