Ukraine and Russia both said their emergency alert apps were hacked overnight, sending false warnings about air raids, chemical attacks and nuclear threats to citizens' phones. In Ukraine, the widely used Air Alarm app began sending its highest-level warnings shortly before 11 p.m. local time (2100 GMT) on Sunday. The false alerts started at about 22:47 with a message claiming a radiation threat in Kyiv. A minute later, a message in Russian said a nuclear alert would cover all of Ukraine and referred to Russia's Oreshnik missile. Further messages at 22:49 warned of a chemical attack and street fighting in Kyiv. All-clear messages followed at 23:53. Ukraine's Air Force said on Telegram that the app had probably been subjected to hostile interference and stressed there was no radiation threat. The Ministry for Digital Transformation temporarily disabled the app for maintenance, saying it had apparently been compromised.

Russia reports a mirror attack

A few hours later, Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations said its own app had suffered a "massive cyberattack" that spread false information to the public. A pro-Ukrainian partisan group, Atesh, shared a screenshot on Telegram claiming to show a fake alert about nuclear warheads launched at all Russian regions. That claim has not been independently verified.

Why the incident matters

Neither government has publicly proved who was behind either attack, and there is no confirmation the two incidents were connected. Ukraine's air force blamed hostile interference, and Ukrainian officials pointed to Russia, but that attribution has not been independently established. Experts warned a trusted safety channel can itself spread panic, or, if shut down, leave people without timely warnings of real attacks.

Sources: Security Affairs; Reuters via Devdiscourse, 2 November 2026. Attribution is left unproven, as in the sources.