Russia-Ukraine war updates from March 22, 2024

Russian hackers last month targeted German political parties with a phishing campaign, Google’s cyber unit Mandiant said in an alert released on their website.

“Phishing emails were sent to victims purporting to be an invite to a dinner reception on 01 March bearing a logo from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a major political party in Germany,” the alert said.

Mandiant said the Russian group behind the attack was identified as APT29, which has been linked to Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Services.

“This is the first time we have seen this APT29 cluster target political parties, indicating a possible area of emerging operational focus beyond the typical targeting of diplomatic missions,” the alert read.

“We judge this activity to present a broad threat to European and other Western political parties from across the political spectrum.”

Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Pictures show destruction in cities across Ukraine after the latest round of Russian missile strikes on the country. The attacks damaged electricity and other infrastructure as well as residential buildings in Ukraine on Friday.

“Russia is at war with people’s everyday lives,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on social media platform X on Friday.

European Union leaders on Friday responded to comments from Russia saying it considered itself to be at war due to the Western intervention in Ukraine.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, meanwhile, said that Russia’s comments show that the Kremlin has betrayed Russians by not admitting to the war and spreading disinformation, Reuters reported.

Separately, French President Emmanuel Macron said it would be wrong to believe Russian aggression would end in regions such as Donbass and Crimea, which are either partially or fully occupied by Russia. The comments also raised uncertainty about Russia’s military goals, he added according to Reuters.

European Union Council President Charles Michel said that Russia’s comments proved the importance of expanding Europe’s defense sector.

“We must tell to our citizens all across the EU that if we want peace, if we want security and stability, it is extremely important to improve our defense capabilities and to build a true European Union in defense,” he said according to Reuters.

Michel also said that the EU was “not intimidated” by Russia saying it would retaliate if the EU used the profits from frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine.

Russia is building up a group of over 100,000 troops who could be deployed for a possible new offensive in Ukraine this summer, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces said Friday according to Interfax.

Lieutenant-General Oleksandr Pavliuk said it was not certain what the new troops would be used for, noting that they could also be amassed to replenish depleted units, as Russia’s military faces heavy losses two years into its offensive.

“We do not fully know Russia’s plans. We only know the data they have, what they are creating. They are building up a group of more than 100,000 troops,” Pavliuk was reported as saying on Ukrainian TV.

“It won’t necessarily be an offensive. Perhaps they will replenish their units that are losing combat effectiveness. But there is a possibility that by the beginning of summer they may have certain forces to carry out offensive operations in one of the axes,” he added.

— Karen Gilchrist