Some electric vehicle (EV) charging stations along a Russian motorway have been hacked to display anti-Putin messages, according to Russian energy company Rosseti.
The non-functional charging stations are on the M11 motorway, which links Moscow to St Petersburg, Rosseti posted on Facebook.
The EV charging stations were purchased from a Russian firm, however they had outsourced work on the control systems to a specialist Ukrainian company.
The company, AutoEnterprise, maintained a backdoor into the chargers, allowing them to deactivate them and change the messages.
"Call service no plugs available," was first displayed in English before scrolling through Russian messages saying "Glory to Ukraine", "Glory to the heroes", "Putin is a dickhead" and "Death to the enemy".
According to Wired, the phrase which translates as "Putin is a dickhead" became popular in Ukraine in 2014 after a previous Russian incursion, particularly among football fans.
Rosseti isolated the charging stations from its network and is considering the best way to bring them back online. No timescale has been provided for them to be operational again.
The websites of some Russian media organisations have also been hacked, according to a Reuters report.
The websites, including that of state news agency TASS, were replaced with an anti-war message.
"Dear citizens. We urge you to stop this madness, do not send your sons and husbands to certain death," it said.
"Putin is forcing us to lie and is putting us in danger."
