KIEV (Sputnik) — Ukraine's Interior Minister adviser Zoryan Shkyryak said Tuesday that Russia was responsible for the cyberattacks on banks and state corporations that occurred earlier in the day, albeit without providing any proof.
"There is no doubt that Russia is behind these tricks [hacker attacks], because today it is a manifestation of a hybrid warfare," Shkyryak told 112 Ukraina broadcaster.
Earlier in the day, the National Bank of Ukraine warned banks and other financial sector participants about an external cyberattack by an unknown virus, which was later identified as Petya. The National Bank said that a number of Ukrainian banks, and several enterprises of the commercial and public sectors had been targeted by the virus.
Russia's Rosneft and Bashneft oil companies servers were also attacked by hackers on Tuesday.
Kiev has repeatedly accused Russia of interfering with the country's interior affairs, but Moscow has, in turn, denied all the allegations.
Earlier in June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that hackers could be anywhere in the world, and that Russia on a state level has not engaged in such activities. The Russian leader added that it was theoretically possible for people of a certain country to have patriotic feelings and decide to target people or organizations that make negative statements about their homeland.