They hack the alert system to warn the population of the attacks in Ukraine

BarcelonaAir Alert, the application that alerts the Ukrainian population of Russian attacks, suffered a cyberattack this Sunday evening, according to the military. Ukrainians received three consecutive alarm messages on their mobile phones shortly before eleven at night, one hour earlier in Catalonia. The first warned of a "radiation danger" in Kyiv, the second, of a "chemical threat," and the third, of "street fighting."

In a message on Telegram, the Ukrainian Air Force warned that the application "has likely been compromised," clarified that "there is no radioactive risk," and urged the population to remain calm and follow instructions only through this channel.

Ukrainians also received a false alarm about the launch of Russian Oreshnik ballistic missiles and links to a Telegram channel. The Center for Countering Disinformation has urged not to click on external links and not to share unverified information. Several regional governments have also confirmed the cyberattack. And the application has stopped working.

The Kyiv City Council reported that the Kyiv Digital application and the capital's street alert system are working normally and will provide warnings in case of an air alert if any threat is detected. Currently, there is no air or radiological alert in Kyiv.

The Air Alert application was launched in 2022, in collaboration with the company Ajax Systems, which developed it in just 24 hours shortly after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, and it depends on the Ministry of Digital Transformation. Its messages shape the daily lives of Ukrainians and have served to save many lives, because it gives the population critical minutes to take shelter in metro stations or basements in case of an attack.