One of the main versions of the Security Service about how the Russians managed to strike the place where the 128th separate mountain-assault brigade of the Transcarpathian Brigade was lined up in Zaporizhzhia is that the occupiers hacked a technical device.
This was reported by the head of the Cyber Security Department of the SBU, Ilya Vityuk, in an interview with Ukrinform.
As he noted, among the threats is the sending of phishing messages to hack the messengers of specific military personnel. This is done by the Armageddon hacker group, which sends out thousands of such messages. If they manage to hack the device, they gain access to messengers and computers through mail.
"During the investigation of one of the attacks that killed more than 30 of our servicemen, we found that one of the devices on which the Signal messenger was installed received a message about the specific date and place of the line-up of servicemen, where the missile later landed." added Ilya Vityuk, referring to the 128th brigade.
The head of the Cyber Security Department of the SBU speaks of more than 30 dead soldiers, while the brigade confirmed the death of 19 soldiers back in November.
- On November 3, in a village near the front line in Zaporizhzhia, the Russians hit the soldiers of the 128th brigade with an "Iskander". It happened during the line-up for the Day of Missile Troops and Artillery awards. Commander Dmytro Lysyuk was removed from his post during the investigation.
- On November 14 , the commission of the Ministry of Defense conducted an investigation into the tragedy involving the 128th brigade and proved that the command had indeed gathered the soldiers in the courtyard of the building for the awards, but ignored all the rules of masking. After the announcement of the "missile danger" signal, no security measures were taken.
- The 128th brigade is a mountain infantry unit of the Ground Forces. It is part of the Operational Command "West" with headquarters in Mukachevo. Since the beginning of the war in eastern Ukraine in 2014, 128 military brigades have taken positions in the Luhansk region, in the Lysychansk, Severodonetsk, and Rubizhny regions. 128 separate mountain assault brigade liberated Kherson, fought near Bakhmut. At the beginning of January 2023, the brigade returned to the Zaporizhzhia direction. In June 2023, the fighters of the brigade liberated the villages of Lobkove and Pyatikhatky.