Hackers Hit Ukrainian and Russian Emergency Alert Apps With False Nuclear and Radiation Warnings

Ukraine's Air Alert emergency app sent false warnings of radiation, chemical threats, a nuclear alert and street fighting in Kyiv on Sunday night, and Russia reported a hack of its own alert app hours later. The Ukrainian messages began around 10:45 p.m. Kyiv time. One, in Russian, said the Oreshnik hypersonic missile was in action. Ukraine's Air Force said at about 11:02 p.m. that the app appeared to have suffered hostile interference and that there was no radiation threat. The app's creators said unauthorized third parties interfered with it. At 2:45 a.m. Moscow time, Russia's Emergencies Ministry app was hacked and sent false alerts to users in 33 regions. Ukraine's Center for Strategic Communications blamed Russia, though no group had publicly claimed responsibility. One message linked to a Telegram channel apparently owned by a hacker group, and all-clear messages took more than an hour. The incidents came just as a rare humanitarian ceasefire between the two sides ended.

Left-leaning NBC News and CBS News treat it as a two-sided cyber incident. They lead with the hacks on both countries' apps, give timestamps and Air Force statements, and add the app's developers (CBS) and the ceasefire's end, with fears of intensified fighting (NBC). CBS adds that Kyiv residents checked Telegram and knew the alerts were fake. Right-leaning Fox News centers on Kyiv, quoting the radiation and chemical alerts, noting the nuclear display on the public map and street loudspeakers, and citing the Center for Strategic Communications blaming Russia. Its excerpt omits the Russian app hack, and it pairs the story with an Estonian foreign minister's comments on Moscow's hybrid tactics. All agree on the false alerts and the Air Force's denial. The BBC stands apart by quoting Lviv and Kyiv residents on unease rather than panic.