Officials urged calm after the warnings flashed across phones in Kyiv and other areas. The incident came hours after a ceasefire ended.
KYIV – Phones across Ukraine lit up on Sunday evening with warnings of a nuclear attack. There was no attack. Ukraine’s national air raid alert app, which millions rely on for the seconds that can separate safety from catastrophe, had been hacked, the Ukrainian Air Force said.
For a short time, the app showed false warnings that Kyiv and other areas faced nuclear, radiation and chemical threats, as well as street combat, according to the Air Force. Screenshots shared on social media showed radiation and chemical symbols on the map near Kyiv. UPI and the Kyiv Independent reported that air raid sirens were also set off in places. “The air alert app appears to have been subjected to enemy influence,” the Air Force said on Telegram, and urged citizens to remain calm. Governors of several regions said there was no threat locally, and Kyiv authorities said the capital’s separate app was working normally.
Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications blamed Russia for the hack. Hours later, Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said its own warning app had come under a “massive cyberattack” and spread “false information.” A Ukrainian hacker group, ATESH, claimed it had sent fake nuclear threat messages through Russia’s app. That claim has not been verified.
The danger of such an attack is not only the fear it causes. In a country under daily missile attack, a warning of this kind can send people running to shelters in the dark, overwhelm emergency services and spread panic faster than any official can correct it. An alert that wrongly announces a nuclear or chemical attack also risks being misread by people responsible for military decisions during a war between two nuclear-armed neighbors. There is no evidence that the false alerts affected any military decision, and both governments are treating the incident as a cyberattack. The Statesman reported that it raises fresh concerns about the reliability of public warning systems during the war.
The attacks came hours after a six-day local ceasefire in Kherson ended. Neither country has said how the hackers gained access, and Ukrainian officials said an investigation is under way.
This report draws on information from Al Jazeera, ABC News, UPI and The Statesman.