Ukraine and Russia report hacks on air alert and emergency apps as truce ends

False alerts in Ukraine

Ukraine's Air Force said its Air Alert app, which warns residents of incoming missiles and drones, was probably compromised by hostile interference late on Sunday, 1 November. Notifications started around 23:00 Kyiv time and warned of radiation and chemical threats to Kyiv, possible street fighting and a nationwide missile alert. A message in Russian also appeared, saying a nuclear alert was active across Ukraine and that an Oreshnik missile had been launched. Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ignat confirmed the hack, and the Air Force added that there was no radiation risk and asked people to follow its Telegram channel. The app's developers said unauthorised parties had interfered with it, then switched off push notifications and suspended the service. They added that the app stores no personal data and warned users not to click links in suspicious notifications.

Russia's emergency app and wider hacking claims

Hours later, Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations said its mobile app had been hit by a 'massive cyberattack' that let attackers send false information to the public. Meduza reported that users received notifications about nuclear warheads launched against all regions of the country. The ministry said the attackers had sent a mass of false messages but that the overall alert system was not affected. Moscow has not named who was behind the attack. Astra, an independent Russian Telegram channel, said Beget, one of the largest web hosting providers in Russia, had also been attacked, and that its infrastructure keeps more than 700,000 active domains online. The day before, a group of Belarusian hackers claimed to have breached servers of Rosstat, Russia's Federal State Statistics Service, compromising about 25,000 computers and taking 23 terabytes of information.

Truce ends in Kherson

The cyberattacks came as the longest pause in the war, limited to Kherson region, reached its end. Kyiv said Russia had rejected a proposal to extend it, and the ceasefire expired at midnight on Sunday. The truce ran from 27 October to 1 November and was mediated by US First Lady Melania Trump, enabling a humanitarian mission to Oleshky, a town under Russian occupation. Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine's parliamentary human rights commissioner, called the truce an important step in joint humanitarian efforts with Russia. US-mediated talks between Moscow and Kyiv are expected to resume this month, after being effectively frozen following the joint US and Israeli strikes on Iran in February.

Zelensky's refinery offer

On Sunday, Zelensky said Ukraine would stop striking Russian oil refineries, a step he tied to a request from US President Donald Trump, if Washington supplies Patriot interceptor missiles. He said Kyiv would suspend refinery attacks for one month in that case. In an interview with Fox News, he said Ukraine could not stay passive after Russian attacks on its energy grid, gas facilities and refineries, and that Kyiv would find the money itself rather than only asking for aid. Trump, who faces inflation at home that articles link largely to a surge in energy prices, has asked both sides to stop attacking each other's energy infrastructure.