KYIV: Ukraine and Russia said their emergency alert apps had been hacked overnight, sending false warnings to citizens about impending air raids and chemical and nuclear attacks.

The warnings coincided with the expiration of a six-day local ceasefire brokered by US first lady Melania Trump in a small area of southern Ukraine, the longest such pause in fighting since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

Ukraine’s public air raid app started to send false alerts just before 2100 GMT on Sunday for the capital, Kyiv, and other areas, warning of radiation and chemical attacks and street combat. One of the alarms said Russia had launched a hypersonic Oreshnik missile, whi­ch is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, and that a nuclear alert had been declared.

Ukraine’s air force said shortly after on the Telegram messaging app that the alert system appeared to have been hacked by Russia, noting the alerts were broadcast in Russian rather than Ukrainian, which is compulsory for official communications.

“The air alert app appears to have been subjected to enemy influence,” the air force said. “There is no radiation threat! Stay calm and follow our updates on our channel!”

All-clear messages were sent shortly afterwards, and Ukraine’s Ministry for Digital Transformation said the app had been temporarily suspended, while air raid sirens and other public alerts were functioning.

Hours later, Russian state news agency TASS quoted the Emergencies Ministry in Moscow as saying that its own mobile app had also been hit by a cyberattack that transmitted fake public warnings.

Atesh, a pro-Ukrainian hacking group, posted a screenshot of the Russian alert on Telegram early on Monday, saying, “The Ministry of Emergency Situations app has been hacked!”

The fake message, laced with profanities and derogatory language calling Russian regions “swamps”, told Russians that nuclear warheads had been launched and advised people to shelter in their cellars. The Moscow ministry played down the impact, saying experts were working to restore the supplementary app.

“We ask the public to remain calm and to trust only official sources of information: the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations website and the department’s official social media accounts,” it said. On the streets of Kyiv, Artem Pyndyk, 37, a businessman, said he was briefly surprised to see the messages but then realised what had happened.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2026