Fake nuclear and chemical warnings went out through Ukraine's official air-raid alert app on Sunday night, and Russia's emergencies ministry said its own app was hit hours later. Ukraine cleared its false alerts within about an hour. Here is what happened, how emergency alerts reach phones in the U.S., and how to check one before acting on it.
Just after 10 p.m. on Sunday, November 1, Ukraine's official air-raid alert app, Air Alert, began showing false warnings. They said Kyiv and other areas faced nuclear, chemical and street-combat threats, and one claimed a Russian Oreshnik missile had been launched. At least one was written in Russian. The app is used across Ukraine to warn of air strikes. It was built with the country's digital transformation ministry and the security company Ajax Systems.
Ukraine's air force said the app appeared to have been subjected to enemy influence, and posted: "There is no radiation threat!" The app's notifications were switched off, the false alerts were cleared within about an hour, and the app was being restored by around 2 a.m. The digital transformation ministry said air-raid sirens and other alert methods were still working.
Early on Monday, Russia's emergencies ministry said its own warning app had been hit by a massive cyberattack that sent false information to the public. According to Russian media reports, the fake messages claimed nuclear warheads had been launched at every region of Russia, and told people to stock up on food for three weeks and hide in their basements. The ministry said it was working to close the vulnerability and restore the app.
Ukraine's Center for Strategic Communications blamed Russia for the attack on Air Alert. Russia's ministry did not name a suspect. No group has claimed responsibility, and neither government's account has been independently confirmed. Al Jazeera reported that this appears to be the first time either country's official alert app has been hacked.
The best-known false alert in the U.S. was a mistake, not a hack. On January 13, 2018, a worker at Hawaii's emergency management agency sent a ballistic missile warning to phones across the state, ending with "THIS IS NOT A DRILL." The FCC's preliminary report found the worker said they believed the threat was real. The alert went uncorrected for 38 minutes, and Hawaii said afterward that a second person would have to confirm alerts before they go out.
TV and radio alerts have been tampered with. In February 2013, the Montana Television Network said hackers broke into the Emergency Alert System of its Great Falls station, KRTV, and broadcast a warning that dead bodies were rising from their graves. In August 2022, FEMA urged the operators of TV and radio alert equipment to update its software, after a security researcher found flaws that could let a hacker broadcast fake messages. There was no evidence the flaws had been used.
Ready.gov lists three main channels. Wireless Emergency Alerts arrive on phones with no sign-up; they look like text messages but come with their own sound and vibration. The Emergency Alert System carries warnings on TV, radio, cable and satellite. NOAA Weather Radio broadcasts official warnings 24 hours a day, including some for emergencies that are not about weather. The FEMA App can also send National Weather Service alerts for up to five locations, and many counties and cities run their own sign-up alert services.
Phone alerts can come from state, local, tribal and territorial officials, the National Weather Service, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the President. Ready.gov notes that FEMA does not review, edit or approve the alerts that local agencies send.
The advice Ukrainians were given on Sunday night works anywhere: stay calm, check the official channel, and don't click links from unknown sources. While Air Alert showed false warnings, the sirens and a separate Kyiv city app were working, so there were other official sources to check against. Al Jazeera's reporter in Kyiv said most people there understood within about half an hour that it was a hack.
For a household, that means having more than one way to hear official news: a phone that receives Wireless Emergency Alerts, a local radio or TV station, and the website or social media accounts of your city or county emergency office. Ready.gov's basic kit list includes a battery-powered or hand-crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert, neither of which depends on a phone or the internet. All 13 national kit lists compared in Issue 51 include a radio. If you have concerns about the alerts in your area, Ready.gov suggests contacting your local officials directly.
This issue reflects what was known on Monday, November 2, 2026. Ukraine and Russia: Al Jazeera, the Kyiv Independent, and Reuters and AFP via ABC News, which quoted Russia's TASS news agency for the ministry's statement. Hawaii: the FCC's preliminary report, via the Washington Post. Montana: Nextgov. The 2022 advisory: FEMA, via ABC7 Chicago. U.S. alert channels: Ready.gov's alerts page. The kit list: Ready.gov's Build a Kit page.
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