Hackers infiltrated Russian state TV, airing a video that directly blames President Vladimir Putin for the Ukraine invasion.
The hackers managed to broadcast a video claiming that Putin forced Ukraine into invading Russia, drawing parallels between the current conflict and the Soviet Union’s disastrous military campaign in Afghanistan.
The voiceover in the video predicted that, like the Soviet Union’s eventual defeat in Afghanistan, the conflict in Ukraine would end in a similar tragedy, with thousands of soldiers dead and a humiliating defeat for Russia.
The Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 led to a decade-long war, resulting in approximately 15,000 Soviet casualties and a withdrawal that marked the beginning of the end for the Soviet empire.
The video broadcast by the hackers suggests that Putin’s war in Ukraine is headed for a similarly grim outcome, with Ukraine’s military estimating over 600,000 Russian casualties to date.
This is not the first time hackers have disrupted Russian state TV. In May, during the Victory Day parades commemorating the end of World War II, they managed to air a video showing images of terrorist attacks, evidence of electoral fraud, and photos of Russian soldiers involved in the Ukraine conflict, each labeled as “murderer.”
The hackers’ latest broadcast also included a declaration of Putin’s impeachment, accusing him of starting a war with Ukraine and failing to respond to terrorist attacks.