Ukraine’s air-raid alert app partly restored after hack

The app, Povitriana Tryvoha, warns people by region, district or locality about possible Russian air attacks. Its team said unauthorised people had interfered with its operation, prompting it to disable push notifications and temporarily suspend the service.

Air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat told RBC-Ukraine on 1 November that, according to the air force’s information, the app had been hacked. The Kyiv Independent said its journalists received notifications on their phones and reported false alerts warning of radiation and chemical threats. The air force said there was no radiation threat.

In an update reported early on 2 November, the app team said push notifications were coming through again and two threat levels were visible on its map. The display of targets on the map remained temporarily disabled.

Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation had warned that information being circulated about threat levels was inaccurate. It urged people to follow official channels and avoid clicking on external links.