Zelenskyy says Ukraine hacked Russia's emergency alert app in response to false alerts in Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has acknowledged that his country broke into Russia's emergency alert system, saying it was retaliation for a cyberattack that pushed bogus warnings through Ukraine's own alert app, according to an interview he gave PBS News.

Speaking with PBS News anchor Amna Nawaz, Zelenskyy said Ukraine only acts in reply to Russian moves. "We only respond on their attacks," he said, according to PBS. Referring to Russia, he added, "They attacked our system," and characterized the incident as a cyberattack.

The bogus Ukrainian warnings appeared on Sunday evening. The BBC said the app sent an air raid alert covering the entire country, plus warnings of radiation danger, chemical weapons use and combat on the streets of Kyiv, all of which proved untrue. Ukrainian officials told PBS News that people using the app were also wrongly warned that a nuclear threat was imminent.

PBS News reported that Ukraine took the alert service offline after the incident and that it has since been restored.

Several hours after the Ukrainian incident, Russia reported that its comparable app had likewise pushed out untrue warnings, according to the BBC. PBS News said Russian officials stated on Monday that intruders had broken into the national emergency app and used it to distribute bogus alerts. Each government has said its system was compromised.

The outlets differ on how clear responsibility is. The BBC said it had not been established who carried out the attacks or whether the Ukrainian and Russian incidents were connected. Zelenskyy, however, told PBS News that Russia was behind the attack on Ukraine and confirmed that Ukraine then targeted the Russian app. He said Ukraine acted after it became evident the attack was directed at Ukrainian civilians, PBS reported.

The Russian statements cited by PBS News described the breach of their app, but the reporting available did not include any Russian reply to Zelenskyy's remarks or to his claim that Moscow was responsible for the incident in Ukraine.

In related coverage, PBS News tied the episode to the expiration of a limited ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, noting that the false alerts in both countries came as that truce lapsed. Neither outlet reported injuries or physical damage linked to the false warnings.

PBS News said additional portions of its Zelenskyy interview were scheduled to air on Monday's edition of PBS News Hour.

Compiled by True News from reporting by PBS NewsHour and BBC News. Each outlet's original story is linked below.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/696