Russia-Ukraine war: Hackers' group 'Anonymous' declares 'cyber war' on Moscow

'Anonymous,' a cyber hacker group, has declared a "cyber war" against Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration as it launches a full-scale invasion of Kyiv in the midst of the continuing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The hacking collective's goal, according to international media, is to deactivate several Russian government websites.

RT.com, a Russian state-controlled international television network, was also targeted by the gang.

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According to sources, RT.com and a number of other websites were targeted in a broad denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the hacker collective 'Anonymous,' known for accessing foreign government accounts, declared a "cyberwar" on Russia on Thursday.

The group announced their move on social media, claiming to have taken down a number of Russian government websites.

A social media account purporting to represent the group wrote on Thursday that "The Anonymous collective is officially in cyber war against the Russian government."

"The "Anonymous collective has taken down the website of the Russian propaganda channel RT News," it added, confirming the RT.com hack.

Meanwhile, the Russian government's websites, the Kremlin, the Duma, and the Ministry of Defense were all hit by the hacker collective's 'cyberattack.'

Several users reported that the websites targeted by the gang slowed down and went offline for long periods of time during the day on social media networks.

In a series of tweets, the group made it clear that it was opposed to Putin's recent actions against Ukraine.

(With inputs from agencies)