Cyber support for Ukraine postponed due to war: report

The European Union postponed the deployment of a European cybersecurity team to support Ukraine in the digital field due to the outbreak of the war, two sources told NU.nl.

The team's deployment was announced on Tuesday. The intention was that the team, which includes experts from the Netherlands, would go to Ukraine to help the country protect itself against cyberattacks from Russia. But that plan was scrapped when Russia started physically attacking the country on Thursday. 

The physical deployment of the Cyber ​​Rapid Response Team (CRRT) experts has been postponed, the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense confirmed to NU.nl. Lithuania coordinates the CRRT. It includes experts from the Netherlands, Croatia, Estonia, Poland, and Romania. The CRRT council will meet again to see how the experts can support Ukraine, the Lithuanian Ministry said.

Although the CRRT council decided on Tuesday to deploy the team, it was not yet entirely clear what exactly the cyber experts would do. A spokesperson for the Dutch Ministry of Defense told the newspaper that talks were ongoing about this. It also depends on precisely what aid Ukraine needs in this field.