Three pro-Russian hackers have been arrested on suspicion of cyber attacks against Spain and other NATO countries for terrorist purposes, Spanish police said Saturday.

The suspects were detained for their alleged participation in Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) cyberattacks against government institutions and strategic sectors, the Guardia Civil said.

It was not said whether the three suspects, who have not been named, have been charged or are in custody.

The cyberattacks are believed to have targeted web pages of public and private sector organizations, critical infrastructure and essential services in countries supporting Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, the report said.

Police published a video on the social media platform X of a raid on the home of one of the suspects, showing a Soviet-era hammer and sickle flag pinned to the wall.

The prime minister wants to maintain Britain’s position as one of the world’s most vocal supporters of Ukraine – a role that will become even more important as support from other powers begins to waver, he writes Maria Dejevsky

A former Ukrainian parliament member best known for her crusade to promote the Ukrainian language has died after being shot in the street by an unknown assailant.

Iryna Farion, 60, initially survived the attack in the western city of Lviv on Friday but later died of her wounds in hospital. A manhunt is underway for her attacker, who fled the scene. Ukrainian officials said an investigation was underway and the attack was being treated as a murder.

“Work is being done on all available surveillance cameras, witness interviews are underway, and several districts are being investigated. All leads are being investigated, including the one leading to Russia,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on his official Telegram channel on Saturday.

“All necessary forces of the National Police of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine have been deployed to search for the criminal.”

Farion served in the Ukrainian parliament between 2012 and 2014 and was best known for her campaigns to promote the use of the Ukrainian language by Ukrainian officials who spoke Russian. She controversially criticized Russian-speaking members of Ukraine’s Azov Regiment who defended the port city of Mariupol in the early days of the full-scale invasion.

Police consider “personal hostility” towards the former MP over her social and political activities as a likely motive behind the attack, said Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, who will oversee the investigation in Lviv.

Ukraine is on track to “stand on its own two feet” militarily, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, noting that more than two dozen other countries have pledged to maintain their own military and financial aid to the country even if the U.S. were to withdraw its support under a different president.

On Friday, Mr. Blinken spoke directly for the first time about the possibility that former President Donald Trump could win the November election and thus renege on commitments to Ukraine.

Under President Joe Biden, the US has been the mainstay of Ukraine’s more than two-year fight against invading Russian forces.

At least two people have been killed and three others injured after a Russian missile attack on infrastructure in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials confirmed that the death toll from a Russian attack on the city of Mykolaiv on Friday had risen to four. A child was among the victims, the city’s mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych, said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media about the attack on Mykolaiv that a projectile had hit a playground next to an apartment building.

This weekend, 25,000 music lovers will gather for Ukraine’s largest music festival, an annual event that has not taken place since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Journalist Paul Niland shared a video on X of a large audience watching Ukrainian rock band BoomBox on stage. This year’s lineup will understandably feature mostly domestic talent, although the event has previously featured headliners including global stars Kasabian, The Chemical Brothers and Liam Gallagher.

Speaking to the BBC, event organiser Vlad Yaremchuk explained that the festival is being held in a car park outside one of Kiev’s largest shopping malls, so if there were a Russian airstrike, “there would be more than enough space to evacuate everyone quickly — and we’re talking minutes.” The mall has a capacity of 100,000, he said.

So far, the festival, which runs from Friday to Sunday, has been running smoothly, although it had to be postponed for a week after a major airstrike in Kiev that hit a children’s hospital.

“We didn’t even expect that we would have the opportunity to organize a festival while the war is still going on,” Yaremchuk says.

“Reality has taught us that cultural events are still possible in times of war.”

The Ukrainian president on Friday became the first foreign leader to personally address the cabinet since Bill Clinton in 1997, calling for support for his country’s “long-range capabilities.”

In his address to the cabinet, Mr Zelensky said that “lifting restrictions on Western weapons” would help Kiev strengthen its defences and secure its front lines.

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Three pro-Russian hackers have been arrested on suspicion of cyber attacks against Spain and other NATO countries for terrorist purposes, Spanish police said Saturday.

The suspects were detained for their alleged participation in Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) cyberattacks against government institutions and strategic sectors, the Guardia Civil said.

It was not said whether the three suspects, who have not been named, have been charged or are in custody.

The cyberattacks are believed to have targeted web pages of public and private sector organizations, critical infrastructure and essential services in countries supporting Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, the report said.

Police published a video on the social media platform X of a raid on the home of one of the suspects, showing a Soviet-era hammer and sickle flag pinned to the wall.

Ukrainian officials also confirmed that the death toll from a Russian attack on the city of Mykolaiv on Friday had risen to four.

According to the city’s mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych, there was also a child among the victims.

Zelensky wrote on social media about the attack in Mykolaiv that a projectile had hit a playground next to an apartment building.

“Russia proves every day with its terror that ‘pressure’ is not enough,” he said.

“This destruction of life must be stopped. We need new solutions to support our defense. Russia must feel the power of the world.”

The Ukrainian air force reported that Russia had fired four missiles and 17 drones overnight, of which 13 were shot down.

The attacks have left thousands of people in the Poltava region of central Ukraine without power or running water, Governor Filip Pronin said.

Residents angry over recent power outages in southern Russia held a rare public protest in the city of Krasnodar on Saturday, social media reports said, with the local governor blaming a heat wave for the blackout.

Unusually warm weather has hit southern Russia, leading to massive power outages in several regions. Earlier this week, one of the four power stations at the Rostov nuclear power plant, the largest in the region, was also shut down.

The unit has since been put back into service.

“There has been abnormal heat in the Krasnodar region for a week. The load on the energy system is colossal. I know and understand all the indignation of residents due to power outages,” Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of the Krasnodar region, said on the Telegram messaging app.

According to him, the current power capacity is insufficient to meet peak demand during the hot summer months.

A video posted on the Baza Telegram channel shows police arresting at least two people during Saturday’s protest.

Russian authorities have cracked down on all protests since the beginning of the conflict with Ukraine in February 2022, especially those with a political slant. Public protests are very rare due to the risk of arrests.