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Chatbots from the Ukrainian Military Intelligence Service (HUR), the Security Service (SBU) and the Ministry of Digital Transformation had disappeared from the Telegram messaging service since Sunday, April 28. These services used the platform, among other things, to inform Ukrainians in Russian-occupied territories. The bots are now active again, the services confirm.

The HUR bot is used not only to inform Ukrainians in Russian-occupied territories, but also to communicate with those who wanted to join the Ukrainian armed forces. In addition, information about Russian military positions, equipment, air defense and troop movements is shared via the Telegram channel. The bots of the SBU and the aforementioned ministry serve a similar purpose.

HUR emphasized that the disappearance of its chatbot on Telegram did not affect the security of users’ personal data, but also warned that Russia could create fake bots with similar names. In the meantime, several chatbots have already been moved to messaging services such as WhatsApp.

The disappearances were not completely unexpected. Telegram’s Russian-born founder Pavel Durov said last week that users in Ukraine could expect “certain changes” regarding access to some channels. He said he regarded them as “news/propaganda channels”.