Kiev (Ukraine) (AFP) - Russia said that the Ministry of Emergencies Ministry's alerts application was subjected to a "large-scale electronic attack" on Monday, hours after a Ukrainian woman announced that it had been subjected to a digital hack, in an apparent exchange of attacks between the two sides, coinciding with the end of their longest truce.

Published on: 01/11/2026 - 20:01 Last updated: 02/11/2026 - 03:00

The ministry said on Telegram, “The application of the Russian Ministry of Emergencies was subjected to a large-scale electronic attack, which allowed the attackers to spread false information among the population. Work is currently underway to address the security vulnerability in the application and restore its normal operation.”

These electronic breaches come after the longest truce in the Ukrainian war, which was reached through mediation by US First Lady Melania Trump, ended on Sunday evening and was limited to the Kherson region, after Russia rejected an offer to extend it, according to Ukrainian officials.

Moscow did not immediately say who was behind the attack on its application, while Spravdi, a Ukrainian center for strategic communications, held Russia responsible for the hacking operation it was exposed to.

This rare truce, which began early Tuesday morning, allowed for a humanitarian mission to be carried out in the Russian-controlled city of Oleshki, at a time when the war in Ukraine enters its fifth year.

Neither side reported any violations after the start of the truce.

Ukrainian Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lobinets said via Telegram, "During this period, both parties adhered to their commitments. This allowed the delivery of humanitarian aid to Oleshki, and assistance to civilians wishing to leave the city safely."

He added that he is currently working with his Russian counterpart, Yana Lantatova, on new “humanitarian initiatives.”

“An outlet” for Kherson residents

The conflict, which erupted following Russia's massive invasion of Ukraine in 2022, devastated parts of the country's east and south, killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians, and forced millions of people to flee their homes.

Russia refused to extend the truce, according to what a senior official in the Ukrainian presidency told Agence France-Presse.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry presented "a proposal to extend the ceasefire, but the Russians do not want that," the official told AFP.

Agence France-Presse spoke to a number of Kherson residents, one of whom said that the ceasefire provided a “respite.”

"We have to use this time to complete our tasks," said Volodymyr Omelchenko, a 38-year-old gardener. He added, "We prune the rose bushes in preparation for the winter."

The Ukrainian Armed Forces stated that they took advantage of the truce to evacuate 167 civilians, including 22 children, from other areas of the region devastated by the battles.

Pope Leo

A Ukrainian officer, who requested to remain anonymous, expressed fears that the fighting would be “worse than before” when it resumes.

He said that Russian forces stationed on the other bank of the Dnipro River took advantage of the calm that prevailed over the past few days to mobilize additional forces, transfer ammunition stocks, and collect intelligence information about Ukrainian sites using surveillance drones.

The head of the military administration in the Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, urged residents of the region to "exercise maximum vigilance" and "respond immediately to warnings of Russian attacks" after the end of the truce.

An hour before the end of the truce, the Russian Defense Ministry wrote on Telegram, “We do not spare ammunition, and we do not have mercy on the enemy. The night will be busy, and we are doing our job.”

For its part, the Ukrainian Air Force announced on Sunday evening that the official application used by Ukrainians to receive alerts about Russian air strikes had likely been subjected to “hostile interference.”

The Ukrainian Center for Combating Disinformation also reported that the “Air Alert” application had likely been hacked, noting that the information currently broadcast about threat levels does not correspond to reality, following the appearance of messages on the application talking, among other things, about the presence of a radiation threat.

Targeting an oil refinery

Russia and Ukraine exchanged strikes in other regions on Sunday.

The Ukrainian authorities reported that Russian strikes on Sunday killed three people, including a 13-year-old girl, in the Vinnitsa (central) and Sumy (north) regions.

Earlier on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned Russian strikes launched at night that targeted energy facilities in the country, leaving "hundreds of thousands of families without electricity."

Russia said early Sunday that a drone had struck an "industrial facility" east of Moscow overnight.

Ukrainian media reported that Kiev targeted the Kstovo oil refinery, describing it as "one of the largest oil refineries in Russia, producing fuel and lubricants."

Zelensky said on Sunday that his country would stop bombing Russian oil refineries if Washington provided it with Patriot interceptor missiles.

He added, "We asked not to stand idly by after the Russian attack on our energy facilities, after Russia killed our people and targeted electricity, gas, refineries, and everything."

He continued, "We told them that if you want us to stop targeting Russian oil refineries, they should not attack our energy system. There is another option, which is to provide us with Patriot missiles, and we will find the necessary funding, instead of just providing aid."

Kiev continues to target Russian oil and gas sites, considering this a legitimate response to Russian attacks targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

US President Donald Trump has been pressuring Kiev to stop these attacks, holding it responsible for the rise in diesel costs, while analysts attribute this rise to the war with Iran.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Energy reported on Sunday that there were new power outages across the country, including in Kiev, following Russian strikes targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

For its part, the authorities appointed by Russia in the Ukrainian regions under its control said that the Ukrainian strikes resulted in the deaths of five people between Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians.

Russia currently controls about a fifth of its neighbour's territory, including the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed in 2014, and most of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, known collectively as Donbass, in addition to large parts of the southern Zaporizhya and Kherson regions.

Talks between Russia and Ukraine are scheduled to resume this month, with American mediation, after they remained effectively frozen since the United States and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran in February.

© 2026 AFP

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