Late on Sunday (1 November), Kyiv residents received phone notifications warning of a possible radiation hazard, chemical threat and ongoing street fighting — from Air Alert, the app 6.6 million Ukrainians rely on for missile and drone warnings. Ukraine's Air Force said the app had "likely been compromised by the enemy" after a message in Russian warned of a possible Oreshnik ballistic-missile strike and carried a link to a Telegram channel of a previously unknown group calling itself Hitcore Corp. The developers, Ajax Systems, disabled push notifications, suspended the service and restored it by early Monday with extra security measures. Within hours, a Kyiv-based group calling itself DC8044 claimed it had compromised the mobile app of Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry (EMERCOM) through its API and distributed false warnings of nuclear warheads launched towards Russia; the ministry acknowledged the app hack but said the public warning system was unaffected. The reciprocal strikes echo 2023 precedents — hijacked Russian radio broadcasts and AnonGhost's fake Red Alert — and mark the first time both sides' mobile alert apps have been hit in the same cycle.

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