BOSTON (AP) Russias relentless digital assaults on Ukraine may have caused less damage than many anticipated. But most of its hacking is focused on a different goal that gets less attention but has chilling potential consequences: data collection.

Ukrainian agencies breached on the eve of the Feb. 24 invasion include the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which oversees the police, national guard and border patrol. A month earlier, a national database of automobile insurance policies was raided during a diversionary cyberattack that defaced Ukrainian websites.

The hacks, paired with prewar data theft, likely armed Russia with extensive details on much of Ukraines population, cybersecurity and military intelligence analysts say. Its information Russia can use to identify and locate Ukrainians most likely to resist an occupation, and potentially target them for internment or worse.