Hacked emergency apps in Russia and Ukraine display fake nuclear warnings

Emergency warning applications in Russia and Ukraine displayed false alerts for nuclear attacks and street fighting on Sunday. Authorities in both countries confirmed that their systems had been hacked. It remains unclear if the two breaches are connected.

The apps are designed to warn civilians of missile strikes, drone attacks, and other immediate threats. On Sunday night, Ukraine's public air raid app posted messages claiming Kyiv and other regions faced nuclear and chemical alerts. A separate message on the same platform stated that Russia's hypersonic Oreshnik missile had been deployed.

The Ukrainian Air Force addressed the glitch on Telegram. "The air alert app appears to have been subjected to enemy influence," the service posted. "There is no radiation threat! Stay calm and follow our updates on our channel!" The application had recently been updated to track drone movements in real time.

Stepan Tanasiychuk, the head of Ukraine's Air Raid Alert project, said the system is being restored. New yellow and red alert levels are currently visible on the map. "The team is taking additional measures to secure the app in order to prevent similar situations in the future," Tanasiychuk wrote on Instagram. "We realise how much unnecessary worry and inconvenience this has caused."

In a separate incident, the mobile app for Russia's Emergencies Ministry, known as Emercom, was hit by a massive cyberattack. State news agency TASS reported that the ministry said the attack resulted in the spread of false information to the public. One fake message appearing in the Moscow region and other areas claimed that nuclear warheads on P1-SUN delivery systems had been launched across all regions of Russia. The message included an expletive-laden warning.

The Russian ministry stated that efforts to fix the vulnerability and restore normal operations are underway. The ministry downplayed the incident, noting that official alerts are also distributed through regional sirens, loudspeakers, SMS messages, and media broadcasts. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on the event on Monday. "All electronic resources belonging to our government agencies are under constant threat of cyberattacks," Peskov said. "As technologies, including AI, continue to evolve, the threat of cyberattacks is growing."

Public reaction in both countries was mixed. While some residents expressed concern that the breach undermined trust in official warnings, many others dismissed the messages as obvious errors. One Russian user said they deleted the Emercom app and would not reinstall it. "How can they leave apps like this vulnerable? It's complete nonsense, of course, but what if it weren't?" the user asked. Another Russian commenter noted that the alert was written in a way that made it impossible to believe it was real.

Social media users also shared humorous takes on the situation. One resident of Kyiv responded to the alert about street fighting by posting, "Good thing our mayor is a boxer." Another post created a list of absurd additional threats. The list included a cat invasion, a pancake emergency, a clown attack, and an alien invasion. The user noted that the cat invasion required hiding sausages and the alien invasion required preparing for contact.