VILNIUS, Feb 22 — The European Union is set to activate an EU cyber response team to help Ukraine face Russian attacks, the unit’s leader Lithuania said today.

Lithuania and others "are activating (the) Cyber Rapid Response Team to help Ukrainian institutions to cope with growing cyber threats,” the Baltic state’s Deputy Defence Minister Margiris Abukevicius tweeted.

The decision comes after Moscow recognised two breakaway regions in Ukraine, prompting backlash from the West and further fuelling fears of a possible Russian invasion of its post-Soviet neighbour.

Yesterday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Russia had been using hybrid tactics to "escalate the situation.”

"We see disinformation campaigns, we see cyber attacks. We see open fakes distributed about Ukraine, and we see increased military activity,” he told reporters in Brussels. 

Ukrainian cybersecurity bodies warned of impending attacks earlier this week, with a couple of major attacks on government websites recently observed.

Kuleba called on the EU to take decisions that would "send clear messages to Russia that its escalation will not be tolerated and Ukraine will not be left on its own.”

"This includes not only political messaging, political signals, but also some very specific acts like supporting the development of our defence sector, supporting Ukraine’s cybersecurity, imposing some of the sanctions,” he added.

The EU’s cyber security team, established in 2019, has experts from Croatia, Estonia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania. — AFP