Ukrainian air force says public air raid alert app has been hacked

KYIV - Ukraine’s air force said on Nov 1 that the public air raid alert app had been hacked.

The app for a short time showed Kyiv and other areas subject to nuclear and chemical alerts and the threat of street combat.

An erroneous message said Russia’s hypersonic Oreshnik missile had been deployed.

“The air alert app appears to have been subjected to enemy influence,” the air force said on Telegram. “There is no radiation threat! Stay calm and follow our updates on our channel!”

The abnormality later disappeared.

Ukraine’s Ministry for Digital Transformation said the app was not in operation, but other means of alerting the public were functioning as were air raid sirens.

In a separate event, the mobile app of Russia’s emergencies ministry was hit by a massive cyber attack that resulted in the spread of false information to the public, state news agency TASS quoted the ministry as saying early on Nov 2.

It was not immediately clear whether the two incidents were linked REUTERS