Hackers Send Fake Nuclear Alerts Through Ukraine and Russia Apps

Hackers hit Ukraine’s and Russia’s emergency alert apps, sending fake nuclear and attack warnings and raising public-safety concerns. Ukraine and Russia said on Sunday night that their emergency alert systems had been compromised and used to push alerts about air raids, including a supposed nuclear threat. The BBC reported the incident, but neither side’s claims have been independently confirmed.

The Ukraine Air Alarm app briefly issued red-level air-raid warnings across the country, with some Kyiv residents receiving notices of radiation and chemical threats and street fighting. A Telegram message claimed the app had been hacked, with guidance to stay calm.

The alerts continued for several minutes: at about 22:47 local time a radiation threat in Kyiv was claimed, at 22:48 a Russian message warned of a nuclear alert covering all of Ukraine, and later messages warned of chemical attacks or street fighting in Kyiv. The Ukrainian ministry suggested the app had been compromised and temporarily disabled it for maintenance, while regional officials cautioned people not to click on suspicious links.

A Ukrainian intelligence body — referred to by the BBC as the Central Intelligence Agency — said the app failure had triggered a radiation signal in the Lviv region with no real threat and urged reliance on official sources. Separately, Russia said its own app suffered a massive cyberattack but that wider alert systems remained functional. Ukrainian and Russian outlets cited claims of a partisan Ukrainian group disseminating fake nuclear-threat content inside Russia.

Experts described the incident as a worrying escalation, underscoring the balance between disabling a compromised alert system and preserving backup channels for real warnings.