Ukraine and Russia say emergency air-raid warning systems hit by cyber-hacks – Europe live

An update in now on the Belgian PM, who’s just left the royal palace where he had a ۹۰minute meeting with the king to offer his resignation.

The palace says that the King is “considering his decision and will consult with the party leaders of the various coalition partners starting tomorrow.”

Prime Minister Bart De Wever had offered his resignation to the king this morning after failing to pass a budget and coalition party talks breaking down last night.

The king admonished the lack of accord between politicians in the current environment of “great geopolitical uncertainty”. His statement reads:

The king regrets that no agreement has been reached on a credible budget aligned with current challenges.

In a context of great geopolitical uncertainty and significant economic challenges, the country cannot afford a prolonged political crisis.

Back to the cyber warfare we saw last night in the app hacking in Ukraine, and then Russia.

As I noted earlier, this was direct attack on a core channel of communications between Ukrainian authorities and citizens; this app is embedded in everyday life in a war zone.

And while the full impact of the hack is still unclear – how many Ukrainians were deceived and believed the warnings for example – residents nonetheless have described how alarming it was getting a message on their phone warning of potential nuclear warfare.

Cyber-warfare expert Don Smith, from IT security firm Sophos, says these sorts of attacks are aimed at grounding down people’s mental toughness.

Disinformation is as much a part of war as bombs and bullets. Targeted information attacks could aim to impact the mental resilience of the people of Ukraine.

Their resilience is a key part of their ability to defend against the Russian military.

However he noted the ameaturish nature of this attack. One of the message sent out, in Russian, was almost jokey and casual in tone, reading: “Hi! There will be a nuclear alert across Ukraine. Don’t worry, it’s Oreshnik flying”, a reference to Russia’s hypersonic missiles which can pretzel and outpace most interceptors.

Usually the best information warfare is not obvious or explicit, where this very clearly is. It could indicate desperation from Russia.

Belgium’s prime minister Bart De Wever is handing in his resignation this morning following failed attempts to pass a budget, local media are reporting.

De Wever has been trying to get budget cuts through, and failed in late-night coalition talks yesterday to secure a compromise.

He arrived at the Royal Palace in Brussels this morning to meet with King Philippe, Belgian media say.

However they report he may be instructed to try and secure a deal again, by a certain deadline.

In Kyiv, residents received a succession of unusual alerts late on Sunday night over the period of roughly an hour.

Typically, people can receive several alerts a day warning of incoming Russian drones or missiles; locals after four years of living in a warzone are used to their phones going off, often followed by sirens in the street.

But these messages warned of radically different threats- a nuclear radiation warning, a chemical attack and even an incident of street fighting in Kyiv.

One of the messages was also transmitted in Russian, a clear tell that something was potentially off.

The messages sent out were:

• ۲۲:۴۷: “Radiation threat. Radiation threat declared in Kyiv.”

• ۲۲:۴۸: “Hi! There will be a nuclear alert across Ukraine. Don’t worry, it’s Oreshnik flying” [This message was written in Russia]

• ۲۲:۴۹: “Chemical threat. There is a threat of a chemical attack on Kyiv. Don’t go outside.”

• ۲۲:۴۹: “Street fighting threat. Street fighting is taking place in Kyiv. Don’t go outside.”

• ۲۳:۵۳: An all clear is sent out

Ukrainian authorities within the hour had publicised messages on Telegram saying they believed the app system had been compromised.

The air raid alert channel said “unauthorised parties” had interfered with the system, which had been temporarily taken off line. It urged users to not click on links in “suspicious notifications”.

The Air Force wrote on Telegram: “The Air Alarm application has probably been subjected to hostile interference. There is no radiation threat! Stay calm and follow our updates on our channel.”

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of key events in Europe.

Ukraine and Russia have reported corresponding cyber-hacks on their app warning systems overnight.

These are the mobile apps which send alerts and air-raid warnings, alerting citizens to when missiles and drones are incoming (and thus advising residents to seek shelter or go down to a bunker).

This appears to be the first breach of the app, on such a scale, during the war so far; directly immobilising one of the most important channels of communication authorities have to help advise citizens.

In the Ukraine hack, the app started spewing out alarming fake messages late on Sunday night – warning residents of a nuclear radiation threat in the capital Kyiv, a chemical attack, street fighting and also incoming Oreshnik hypersonic missiles, which Ukraine lacks interceptors for.

Ukraine’s Air Force issued clarification within the hour on Telegram, urging people to remain calm and disregard the messages, one of which was written in Russian.

Some hours later, Russian authorities said its warning app had been hacked and had to be taken offline. A Ukrainian hacker group has claimed to have sent fake alerts warning of nuclear warheads to users inside Russia.

Amid the cyber warfare overnight, both sides also carried out strikes, targeting energy sites like oil refineries. Strikes have been reported in Zaporizhzhia and Odesa.

Stay with us for all the developments.