Fake nuclear alerts sent through hacked warning apps in Ukraine and Russia, just after the Oleshky truce ends
Ukraine's government app reported an incoming nuclear missile and a chemical threat, and its Russian counterpart also sent false messages; meanwhile Moscow refused to extend the local ceasefire.
Ukraine's official app that warns citizens of missile and drone attacks was hacked late on Sunday evening. Users received alerts about a nuclear missile supposedly on its way, about radioactive radiation, about chemical weapons and about street fighting in Kyiv, VRT NWS reports. Air raid sirens also went off across the country. The Ukrainian government quickly said the information was false. The sirens were working normally again around midnight, and the app only partly so at around 2 am.
Ukraine's Centre for Strategic Communications named Russia as the culprit, La Libre writes, citing AFP. It pointed among other things to a message in Russian referring to Russia's Oreshnik missile. A few hours later, Russia's emergencies ministry said its own warning app had also been the target of a large-scale cyberattack. According to VRT NWS, Russian users received a false message about Ukrainian drones with nuclear warheads and advice to stock up on food for three weeks. Moscow did not name a culprit, and it is unclear whether the two attacks are linked.
The hacks came shortly after the end of a six-day truce around Oleshky, a Russian-occupied town in the Kherson region, which allowed residents to be evacuated. According to a senior Ukrainian official quoted by AFP, Kyiv proposed an extension but Russia turned it down, La Libre reports. It was the longest ceasefire since the full-scale invasion of 2022. It came about after mediation by US First Lady Melania Trump, and Pope Leo XIV had also pressed Vladimir Putin. Russian strikes on Sunday killed three people in the Vinnytsia and Sumy regions, among them a 13-year-old girl.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Fox News that Ukraine is willing to stop attacking Russian refineries, as Donald Trump is asking, if Russia spares Ukraine's energy infrastructure or if Washington supplies Patriot missiles, RTBF reports. The US approved the sale of 500 Patriot missiles on Friday, but according to Zelensky deliveries could take years. He also said he was ready to meet Putin, although the Kremlin insists such a meeting take place in Moscow.