Europe·Ukraine
Breaking
Hackers hijack Ukraine's and Russia's air raid apps, sending fake nuclear and radiation alerts
KYIV —
Depth
Dig five layers into this story — from what happened to the full picture.
L1What happened
Alerts began around 22:47. One read "Radiation threat declared in Kyiv"; another, in Russian: "Hi! There will be a nuclear alert across Ukraine. Don't worry, it's Oreshnik flying." All-clears came at 23:53. The Air Force: "There is no radiation threat! Stay calm."
L2Who’s affected
App users across Ukraine; in the Lviv region, the radiation signal was played on loudspeakers. Russian app users reportedly received fake nuclear warnings. Vinnytsia's Natalya Zabolotna warned the message's link could be phishing.
L3Why it’s quiet
Analysis · OVERLOOKED Ukraine war coverage in the U.S. focuses on front lines and diplomacy; a cyber incident with no casualties is easy to miss.
L4Deeper impact
SPRAVDI, Ukraine’s Centre for Strategic Communications, blamed Russia. Partisan group Atesh claimed the Russian hack on Telegram with laughing emojis; a screenshot it shared telling Russians to stock up for three weeks has not been verified by the BBC. Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation advises people to turn on smartphone notifications and pay attention to sirens.
L5Full context
The alerts came minutes before a localised Kherson-region ceasefire ended at 23:00 Sunday; Al Jazeera says it was the longest truce of the war, set up to evacuate civilians from Russian-occupied Oleshky. The Air Alert app is backed by Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation.
You’ve reached the bottom. Read the original reporting below.
Original reporting
CybersecurityConflictDisinformation
This is an OVERLOOKED summary of the reporting above. Facts and figures come from the linked sources. Everything here is a fact unless it is labelled otherwise. Support this work.
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