Readers of the Ukrainian news outlet The Kyiv Independent received emails with a false message about an upcoming nuclear strike on Kyiv. The newsroom’s preliminary assessment showed that Russia may be behind the attack, hromadske reported, citing an official letter by The Kyiv Independent chief editor Olha Rudenko.
Rudenko said that the team had sent no emails regarding a “nuclear warhead launch” and that one of the outlet’s systems had been hacked.
“And everything we know at the moment, including the contents of this email, points to a Russian operation,” she said.
The hackers also attempted to post similar messages on the news outlet’s website, but those were promptly taken down.
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The Kyiv Independent is currently working to address the consequences of the breach and to strengthen its system defenses to prevent future attacks.
“We are not the only ones targeted in such attacks. Two days ago, Russian hackers broke into the state-run app that Ukrainians use to receive air raid alerts and posted a similar message there. Such attacks are part of the war we write about every day. Their objective is to sow confusion and undermine trust. They will not succeed. Thank you for staying with us. And once again, we apologise for what happened,” reads Rudenko’s letter.
In comments to the Institute of Mass Information, Olha Rudenko remarked that the team would soon be issuing a statement on the matter.
In May 2026, the Ukrainian outlet The Kyiv Independent reached the 30,000 subscribers mark and launched a campaign to attract 4 thousand more community members.