Kyiv, Moscow Citizens Receive Imminent Nuclear Strike Alerts

by · Breitbart

Millions of Ukrainians received blaring emergency alerts on their cell phones warning of an imminent nuclear strike on Sunday night in an incident that has been blamed on a hack of air raid warning apps.

A series of fraudulent alerts on Sunday night told millions of Ukrainian and Russian citizens that they should take immediate action to protect themselves from imminent nuclear strikes. In Ukraine, a chain of messages pushed by the Air Alert app, which British publication The Daily Telegraph notes has 46 million downloads and 7 million daily users began: “Radiation threat. Radiation threat declared in Kyiv. Don’t go outside”.

This alert was followed by a second in Russian sent to Ukrainian users, which warned of an imminent strike by a Russian Oreshnik missile — a recent development in Moscow’s arsenal which has already been launched against Ukraine without its nuclear warhead — and advised “A nuclear alert has been activated across Ukraine”. Follow-up messages added there was a chemical weapons attack alert for Kyiv, and that “street fighting” had broken out in the city.

This photograph shows a smartphone with its screen displaying notifications from emergency alert app “Air Alert”, in Kyiv, on November 2, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Phone notifications were sent to millions across Ukraine late on November 1, 2026 warning of a “nuclear alert”, a “chemical threat” and even “street fights” in Kyiv. Ukraine’s air force said the “Air Alert” app — which typically warns of incoming Russian drone and missile attacks — had been “subjected to hostile interference”. Air force spokesman Yuri Ignat confirmed the hack to AFP. (Photo by Roman PILIPEY / AFP via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, similar messages were being sent to Russians in Moscow and other Russian cities through their own national air raid warning app. The Times states they were instructed to “stock up urgently on food for three weeks and hide” and to “take cover in your fucking shelter”.

The messages came during an actual air raid by Russian forces against Ukraine including Kyiv and other cities, among dozens of real alerts of incoming drone attacks and guided bombs.

The fakes were quickly countered by official media in the warring nations. Ukraine’s Air Force told the public to “stay calm” and said through its official channels that “The Air Alert app has likely been compromised. There is no radiation threat!”.

Ukraine blamed Russian hackers for the apparent hack.

The Ukrainian Air Force said of the real air raid over night that Russia had attacked with 193 drones, 75 of them jet-powered, and that 154 of them were shot down or otherwise redirected towards the ground. 26 places were struck by the wave of Russian drones, while a further 9 were damaged by falling wreckage from shot-down attacks.

Russia has the world’s largest stock of nuclear weapons and Ukraine is a former nuclear power, having surrendered its arsenal in the 1990s in return for guarantees of independence. Nuclear threats have become a characteristic feature of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine since 2022, although not generally against Ukraine itself, but against its international backers.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has floated the notion of Ukraine regaining nuclear capacity several times, apparently as a means to encourage Western states to be more proactive in offering it military equipment and funding.