2nd November 2026 – (Kyiv) Authorities in Ukraine and Russia said their emergency alert apps were compromised in overnight cyberattacks, with users in Ukraine receiving fabricated warnings about nuclear and chemical threats and public disorder in the capital; officials restored the Ukrainian service after a brief suspension and urged people to rely on verified channels while the breach was addressed. A pro‑Russian Telegram channel attributed the Ukrainian incident to a group calling itself Hitcore, though that claim could not be independently verified. Ukraine’s air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said the hack did not affect defence operations because the public alert app is separate from military systems. Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry reported that a false alert was sent across 33 of the country’s 89 regions at about 2.45am Moscow time, equivalent to 11.45pm GMT, and said the exploited vulnerability had been identified. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov noted that state bodies face constant hostile activity, increasingly using artificial intelligence, and called for stronger protections.
As the cyber incidents unfolded, a limited ceasefire linked to a humanitarian operation in the Russian‑occupied city of Oleshky, across the Dnipro from Kherson, came to an end at midnight, with Ukrainian officials reporting renewed Russian drone attacks in the region and injuries in Kherson, Kharkiv and Odesa. Ukraine’s ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, who helped lead the evacuation effort, said the operation rescued elderly residents and even pets, and expressed hope it could serve as a pilot for further missions amid anticipated three‑way talks between Ukrainian, Russian and United States officials this month. He described the involvement of U.S. First Lady Melania Trump in brokering the local truce as critical to coordination between multiple civilian, military and intelligence bodies. Russia’s defence ministry claimed to have intercepted more than two hundred drones overnight, while the head of Russia’s Samara region, Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, said local air defences were repelling an aerial attack; independent outlets later reported attempted strikes on oil infrastructure.
