Authorities in Ukraine and Russia said their emergency alert mobile apps had been targeted by cyberattacks, with users in Ukraine receiving false warnings of an imminent nuclear threat.

It was not clear if the attacks late Sunday were related. Ukraine said its service, which residents rely on to seek safety amid daily Russian missile and drone strikes, was up and running again after being suspended due to the attack.

Russian authorities said Monday that hackers had sent fake emergency alerts after gaining access to the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry’s mobile app, and that efforts were ongoing to restore the app’s functionality.

A Russian Telegram channel said a hacking group, Hitcore, had claimed responsibility for the breach of the Ukrainian system, but that could not be independently verified. Any affiliations or other details surrounding the identities or motivations of the purported hackers were unclear.

The alerts received by Ukrainians — making false claims of high radiation levels, a chemical threat and public disturbances in Kyiv — were written in English with spelling and grammatical errors as well as in a mix of Russian and Ukrainian.

One of the messages, written in Russian, said: “Hi! There will be a nuclear threat across Ukraine. Do not worry, the Oreshnik is incoming,” a reference to a Russian intermediate-range ballistic missile.

In a Telegram post late Sunday following the breach, Ukraine’s air raid alert channel said “unauthorized parties” had interfered with the app’s operation and warned users not to click on links in “suspicious notifications.”

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