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The organization charged with monitoring the Russian-fomented conflict in eastern Ukraine confirmed on Wednesday that it suffered a data breach compromising the confidentiality of its computer network.

The Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe said that the breach was discovered in early November and that an investigation identified the way in which the attacker accessed its network.

Some of the external communication destinations, have also been identified, the organization said. It did not provide further details, but added that it did not know who is behind the attack.

News of the breach comes as authorities in the United States continue to examine Russian cybermeddling in the U.S. election and political institutions.

While no perpetrator has been officially named in the OSCE attack, French newspaper Le Monde cites a Western intelligence service in reporting that Russian-linked hacking group Fancy Bear as the possible perpetrators. ABC News has not independently confirmed the perpetrators identity.

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike identified Fancy Bear as one of two hacking groups that perpetrated a massive data breach on the Democratic National Committees computer systems in attacks that were revealed in June of this year.

The firm said that Fancy Bears profile closely mirrors the strategic interests of the Russian government and may be connected with the GRU Russias primary military intelligence service.

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has its roots in large protests that took place in the country in late 2013 and early 2014. In March of that year, Russia annexed the countrys Crimean Peninsula after a widely discredited regional referendum showed support for Russian control.

The referendum results showed that some 97 percent of the Crimean population supported Russian annexation, but that outcome was a seeming impossibility, given the ethnic and language distribution of the region, according to a study published by the U.S. Armys Special Operations Command. The Ukrainian government, the U.S., the European Union and the G-7 said that they would not recognize the referendums results.

The OSCE has provided regular monitoring of the armed conflict between Russian-backed separatist groups and groups fighting to keep the region in Ukraine. The organization was born out of thawing relations between the Soviet Union and Western countries in the 1970s.

While a cease-fire known as Minsk II was negotiated in February of 2015, there have been reports of ongoing strife and killings in the region since then.

The Ukrainian conflict has not been limited to a ground war. In February, U.S. government cybersecurity experts said that hackers were behind a massive power outage in the country in December 2015, which affected almost a quarter of a million people. A government report at that time did not name a perpetrator.

However, cybersecurity firm FireEye said in a report that a hacking group called Sandworm used malware called BlackEnergy3 to perpetrate the attacks.

The firm said that a list of Sandworm victims aligns with the interests of the Russian state, and that documents recovered from an open command and control server indicate that Russian speakers operate the BlackEnergy3 hacking tool.

ABC News Patrick Reevell and Lee Ferran contributed to this report.

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Group That Monitors Ukraine Conflict Suffers Cyberattack

KIEV, Ukraine Half a year after losing his legs in the war against separatists in Ukraine's east, Lt. Volodymyr Kovalsky showed the strength of his body and spirit in a sports competition for disabled servicemen.

Breathing heavily and soaked in perspiration after the competition's final round of weightlifting, Kovalsky said his infant daughter brought him the will to carry on; she was born a month and a half after he was wounded in March.

"I said to myself, 'I have to live to bring her up,'" the 33-year-old said at the Games of Heroes event in the Ukrainian capital's Palace of Sports.

He was one of about 50 wounded soldiers and veterans participating in the games, which included weightlifting, rope climbing and rowing machines. Some of the participants were in wheelchairs, others walking with prostheses.

About 2,000 spectators cheered them on.

The event was inspired by the Invictus Games project launched by Britain's Prince Harry that has spread internationally.

The organizer, Kiev-based TV producer Eugene Koval, said he had learned about the Invictus Games "and I said to myself: we should help the soldiers, why not do the same stuff here in Ukraine?"

Participants said their aim is to show other wounded servicemen that life should go on even when catastrophe strikes.

"When I was in the hospital, dozens of people who I didn't know at all came to me every day with gifts and words of support and called on me not to give up," said paratrooper captain Serhiy Romanovsky, 26, who lost his right leg in fighting two years ago.

Wladimir Klitschko, Ukraine's former world heavyweight boxing champion, bought Romanovsky a 20,000-euro ($21,000) prosthesis, and Romanovsky is currently training for the Paralympic Games. He still is on active duty, based in Lviv.

Romanovsky said there are close to 1,000 servicemen in Ukraine who have lost limbs in combat operations in the war that began in April 2014.

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AP Photos: Ukraine's wounded soldiers get pumped up

Russian hacking to influence the election has dominated the news. But CBS News has also noticed a hacking attack that could be a future means to the U.S. Last weekend, parts of the Ukrainian capitol Kiev went dark. It appears Russia has figured out how to crash a power grid with a click.

Last December, a similar attack occurred when nearly a quarter of a million people lost power in the Ivano-Frankivsk region of Ukraine when it was targeted by a suspected Russian attack.

Vasyl Pemchuk is the electric control center manager, and said that when hackers took over their computers, all his workers could do was film it with their cell phones.

It was illogical and chaotic, he said. It seemed like something in a Hollywood movie.

Vasyl Pemchuk in the control center that was hacked

CBS News

The hackers sent emails with infected attachments to power company employees, stealing their login credentials and then taking control of the grids systems to cut the circuit breakers at nearly 60 substations.

The suspected motive for the attack is the war in eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists are fighting against Ukrainian government forces.

But hackers could launch a similar attack in the U.S.

We cant just look at the Ukraine attack and go oh were safe against that attack, said Rob Lee, a former cyberwarfare operations officer in the U.S. military, investigated the Ukraine attack.

CBS News

Even if we just lose a portion, right? If we have New York City or Washington D.C. go down for a day, two days, a week, what does life look like at that point? he said.

He said that some U.S. electric utilities have weaker security than Ukraine, and the malicious software the hackers used has already been detected in the U.S.

Its very concerning that these same actors using similar capabilities and tradecraft are preparing and are getting access to these business networks, getting access to portions of the power grid, he said.

In Ukraine, they restarted the power in just hours. But an attack in the U.S. could leave people without electricity for days, or even weeks, according to experts. Because, ironically, Americas advanced, automated grid would be much harder to fix.

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Russian hacks into Ukraine power grids a sign of things to ...

About Ukraine

Bridging Europe and Eurasia, Ukraines geography makes it central to regional stability and security. Todays Ukraine struggles to unify with its western neighbors by pursuing pro-European reforms while staving off Russian-backed separatists fighting within its eastern borders. In this context, USAID works with leaders throughout Ukraine to build a stable, democratic, and prosperous future. USAID programs primarily focus on good governance, economic growth, strengthened health services and humanitarian assistance. Since 1992, USAID contributed approximately $1.9 billion to Ukraines economic and social development.

Today, USAID helps mitigate the effects of conflict in Ukraines East and aids Ukraines most vulnerable conflict-affected populations as they adapt from conflict and settle in new communities.

USAID development assistance supports more participatory, transparent, and accountable governance; citizen inclusion in democratic, economic, and social reforms; broad-based resilient economic development; enhanced energy security; and improved health services for Ukrainians.

USAID also supports U.S. Presidential Initiatives on Global Health and Global Climate Change.

Official USAID solicitations occur only through http://www.grants.gov and http://www.fbo.gov

Last updated: December 19, 2016

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Ukraine | U.S. Agency for International Development

The drills involve the test firing of medium-range surface-to-air missiles, the news agency said.

"Everything goes according to the plan. There is no response from the Russian Federation. Ukrainian military are ready for any developments," Ukrinform cited military spokesman Volodymyr Kryzhanivsky as saying on Ukrainian TV.

Kryzhanivsky reportedly said the drills in southern Ukraine did not pose any threat to Crimea and that Ukraine was acting in accordance with international law.

Russian Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov said Russia would evaluate its response to the drills, Russia's state-run Tass news agency reported.

The transport ministry, Rosaviatsiya, said last week that the planned missile launches were in violation of international agreements and warned they could pose a threat to flights in civil airspace above Crimea, Russia's state-run Sputnik News reported.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said more missiles would be launched Friday, Tass reported.

"Our task is to build the air defense of Kiev and the whole of Ukraine. And no one will stop us," he is quoted as saying.

Russia annexed Crimea, a territory in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine, in March 2014 following tensions with its neighbor.

World leaders managed to install a shaky peace deal in 2015. But violence continues in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine, and 2016 has seen an increase in casualties.

According to the United Nations, the conflict has claimed almost 10,000 lives and left hundreds of thousands displaced.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in October that NATO's support for Ukraine was "unwavering" and that it did not and would not recognize Russia's "illegal annexation" of Crimea.

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Ukraine tests missiles near Russian-annexed Crimea