False nuclear and chemical warnings sent to Kyiv via emergency app

Hackers sent a false emergency alert to residents of Kyiv via the country’s official emergency mobile app late last night, warning of a nuclear radiation threat, chemical attacks and street fighting across the capital.

The first fake notifications began arriving shortly before 23:00 local time and were issued in both Ukrainian and English. Many messages contained numerous spelling mistakes, which prompted suspicion among some users that the system had been compromised, although portions of the population nonetheless reacted with alarm.

Authorities suspend the app and warn citizens

The State Emergency Service of Ukraine confirmed that unauthorized actors gained control of the app’s broadcast mechanism. As a precaution the notification channel was temporarily suspended and the public was advised not to click any links contained in the suspicious messages.

Russian officials and outlets linked to security services have claimed responsibility was taken by a hacker group calling itself Hitcore, and reported similar false alerts were sent to users of an emergency app in Moscow. Those assertions have not been independently verified.

The hijacked alert came almost simultaneously with the end of a six-day local evacuation ceasefire in Oleshky in southern Ukraine. Shortly after 23:00 Russia resumed military activity in the Kherson area and, authorities reported, a Russian drone struck a local hospital the following morning.

“For a moment I experienced a huge fear. I lay on the bed and wondered what would happen next,” a Kyiv resident who identified herself as Nina told reporters, describing the panic some citizens felt when the alerts arrived.

Photo: Arhiva