Pro-Russia hackers targeted the websites of several Italian institutions including the defence ministry and the senate, media reports said on Wednesday.

The defence ministry’s website was “under maintenance” and the senate’s was inaccessible before both were back up and running hours after the attack.

Italian daily Corriere della Sera said the pro-Kremlin group “Killnet” claimed the cyberattack, which had reportedly not compromised infrastructure but hindered access to several websites including the National Institute of Health.

The AGI news agency said the hackers unsuccessfully tried to hack the Eurovision song contest’s website.

Killnet targeted Romanian government websites last month, citing Romania’s support for Ukraine in the war against Russia, according to the country’s national cybersecurity agency.

Romania’s intelligence service said the group has also targeted official websites of the United States, Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia and NATO.

In August 2021, the Rome region suffered a large-scale cyberattack that caused the suspension of Covid-19 vaccination reservations.