Ukraine and Russia Hit by Coordinated Cyberattacks on Emergency Apps

Emergency alert systems in both Ukraine and Russia suffered cyberattacks late Sunday, disrupting a critical communication channel for millions of residents during an ongoing war.

Ukrainian officials reported that unauthorized parties interfered with the nation's mobile messaging app used for air raid alerts. The application was temporarily suspended before being restored overnight. During the outage, users received false notifications warning of high nuclear radiation, chemical threats, and public unrest in the capital, Kyiv. The fabricated messages contained spelling errors and grammatical mistakes, written in English with mixed Russian and Ukrainian text.

A Russian Telegram channel named Mash reported speaking with representatives of the hacker group Hitcore. The group claimed responsibility for the intrusion. Ukrainian authorities noted that one of the fake posts explicitly referenced Hitcore. Independent verification of the group's claim is pending.

Russian officials announced on Monday that hackers accessed the mobile application of the Russian Ministry of Emergencies. The ministry stated that the group sent false emergency alerts to users. The agency did not identify the specific hackers behind the Russian breach.

The Russian ministry issued a statement reassuring the public that the general public alert system remained functional. Officials emphasized that the mobile app serves as a complementary service alongside SMS alerts, media broadcasts, and municipal sirens.

Ukraine's State Center for Combating Disinformation confirmed the intrusion. The center advised citizens to monitor emergency channels on social media. It instructed the public to rely on physical alerts while the cyber threat was addressed. Ukrainian residents depend on the mobile app to take shelter from daily missile and drone strikes.

Both nations reported the attacks within hours of each other. The Ukrainian app was back online by the morning following the Sunday night intrusion. The Russian ministry confirmed the breach the next day.