Cyberpartisans said on its website that it was “helping Ukrainians in their fight with the occupier, carrying out a cyber strike on Aeroflot and paralysing the largest airline in Russia.” The hacking group describes itself as “a highly organised hacktivist collective that is fighting for the liberation of Belarus from dictatorial rule.” Silent Crow claimed it had access to Aeroflot’s corporate network for a year. The group said it had been copying customer and internal data, including audio recordings of phone calls, and data from the company’s surveillance on its employees. “All of these resources are now inaccessible or destroyed and restoring them will possibly require tens of millions of dollars. The damage is strategic,” the channel purporting to be the Silent Crow group wrote on Telegram. “The personal data of all Russians who have ever flown with Aeroflot have now also gone on a trip — albeit without luggage and to the same destination.” “Glory to Ukraine! Long live Belarus!” the post concluded. The hacking groups’ claims have not been independently verified. Hacking groups often inflate their successes. Hacking groups from both pro-Russia and pro-Ukrainian points of view have been prevalent since Russia invaded Ukraine and launched its war in 2022. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called reports of the cyberattack “quite alarming,” adding that “the hacker threat is a threat that remains for all large companies providing services to the general public.” Most of the affected flights were domestic, but some international flights to Belarus, Armenia, and Uzbekistan were affected by the cancellations.