Fake alerts warn of nuclear danger as Ukraine and Russia report emergency app hacks

Nuclear danger, radiation threat and street combat: Ukrainians received a wave of messages Sunday night that raised alarm with a series of grave — and baseless — warnings. Authorities said the country’s emergency alert application had been targeted in a cyberattack, and hours later Russia said its own alert system had also been hacked. The dueling accusations came just as a rare humanitarian ceasefire between the two sides ended, raising fears of intensified fighting rather than a move toward broader peace. Residents in Ukraine have become used to the unsettling alerts that buzz their phones with news of incoming Russian missiles and drones — a service millions rely on to seek shelter before the attacks hit their cities. But the warnings Sunday night immediately stood out. The messages, which began around 10:45 p.m. Kyiv time (3:45 p.m. ET), warned residents not to go outside because of radiation hazard, chemical threat and street fights. Another message professed, in Russian, that all of Ukraine was under nuclear alert. “Don’t worry,” it added. “Oreshnik is in action,” referring to Russia’s nuclear-capable hypersonic missile. That message referenced a Telegram channel called Hitcorecorp. Major pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Mash said it spoke with the group and that it took responsibility for the hack. NBC News could not verify who the group is and whether it was responsible for the alerts. Shortly after the alerts went out late Sunday, Ukraine’s air force said the country’s “Air Alert” app had likely been “compromised by the enemy,” confirming there was no “radiation threat” and urging calm. In separate statements, the app’s creators said “unauthorized third parties interfered with the operation of the app,” forcing them to temporarily suspend its operations. It later called the incident a “cyberattack,” saying it was gradually restoring the service. “The team is carrying out additional measures to protect the app in order to prevent similar situations in the future,” one of the statements said. Ukrainian media reported that users across the country received the alert, and authorities in the western Lviv region reported that some of the public warning sirens and loudspeaker systems broadcast a “radiation hazard” signal. Still, many Ukrainians did not appear unduly alarmed or panicked by the alerts. In fact, many shared memes online, poking fun at what they saw as a blatant fake, and the fact the warning was issued in Russian. “No one was particularly surprised,” one user wrote on X. “They might as well have thrown in a dinosaur attack, too.” The state emergency service of Ukraine said Monday the national alert system was operating normally, and an NBC News producer in Kyiv did not experience any further issues with the “Air Alert” app. Meanwhile, Russia’s emergencies ministry also said early Monday that its mobile application has suffered a “massive cyberattack,” resulting in what it said was “dissemination of fake information to the public.” The public alert system was restored and was operating normally, it said shortly after. It emphasized that the app was only “an additional, supplementary information service.” Screenshots shared by Russian media and some regional authorities suggested the alert, issued in Russian, warned of “nuclear warheads” launched at Russia. As with the Ukrainian alert, the wording was casual and did not appear official. Russian authorities did not say who was to blame for the alleged cyberattack, only saying “malicious actors” were behind it. It was not immediately clear whether the two incidents were linked. It came just hours after a temporary ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow came to an end in the occupied southern Ukrainian region of Kherson. The truce, brokered with involvement from first lady Melania Trump and Pope Leo XIV, held without violations from either side for six days, allowing the evacuation of hundreds of residents from the frontline town of Oleshky, which had been on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. The truce amounted to the biggest de-escalation between Kyiv and Moscow since the war started in early 2022. “On behalf of America, I commend Russia and Ukraine for their leadership and cooperation surrounding the Oleshky ceasefire,” Melania Trump said in a post on X on Sunday. “I hope Oleshky serves as a foundation for lasting peace between both nations.” Ukraine’s ombudsman ​for human rights, Dmytro Lubinets, said he was exploring opportunities for “further humanitarian initiatives” with his Russian counterpart, Yana Lantratova, adding that it was “important to maintain this mechanism of cooperation.” Before the truce took hold, the United Nations estimated that some 2,000 civilians remained in Oleshky, many experiencing hunger and unable to leave safely because of heavily mined roads. Neither side has disclosed the exact number of people evacuated, but the first lady said Sunday it was nearly 800. The evacuees could go into territory controlled by either Ukraine or Russia, or remain in the town, officials on both sides said. Lantratova, the Russian human rights commissioner, said Monday that she had expected more people to evacuate from Oleshky, saying “quite a few empty buses” left the area. Many people chose to stay because they couldn’t leave elderly or sick loved ones, she said, or simply refused to leave their homes no matter what. She said for those remaining, humanitarian aid deliveries would take place at least monthly, with the “coordination and mediation” of Melania Trump. Ukraine’s armed forces accused Russia on Monday of using the truce to rotate its units and fortify positions in the area. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Kyiv also could have used the ceasefire to regroup, calling it a “completely common practice in such situations.”