Ukraine downs Russian railways online resource – media

Ukrainian intelligence has reportedly taken down the online presence of the Russian Railways (RZD), the country’s main railways company.

Kyiv struck RZD during the weekend, Interfax Ukraine reported, quoting sources inside the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

The attack supposedly targeted RZD’s website and the company’s servers. At the time of writing this article, the Russian Railways website was inaccessible, pointing to a successful attack.

Sources tell Ukrainian media that RZD‘s website, with all of its subdomains, will have severe issues fetching the addresses to IP addresses. RZD confirmed that it is experiencing difficulties, and Russian users on the social network Vkontakte reported that RZD hasn’t worked for them since the weekend.

RZD is a state-owned railway company, having a monopoly on long-distance travel in Russia. The company was set up after the Russian Ministry of Railways was dismantled in 2003. The company employs over 750,000 staff and reported revenues exceeding $20 billion in 2024.

Russia’s war in Ukraine quickly spilled into cyberspace after Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of the neighboring country in 2022. Both parties continue to exchange frequent attacks on each other’s infrastructure.

In late March Ukrainian Railways was targeted in a large-scale and sophisticated cyberattack with Ukrainians calling the attack “systemic” and “multi-level.” Meanwhile, last week Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) claims it carried out a successful cyberattack on Tupolev, a leading Russian company developing strategic bombers for the military.