The Air-Raid Siren Lasts 3 to 5 Minutes; in Kyiv, Alerts Now Come in Yellow and Red

Ukrainian news reports often carry a line like “an air-raid alert has been issued for such-and-such oblast.” What sounds on the ground at that moment, and who moves where? How alerts are issued, and the types of shelter, are set out in Ukrainian legislation and official city guidance. This article reflects what was confirmed on 23 September 2026.

One thing to say up front: this is an explanation of the system, not instructions on how to protect yourself. Anyone in Ukraine should follow the official guidance of their local administration and city. Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in travel advisory information dated 19 January 2026, continues to rate the whole of Ukraine as Level 4 (Evacuate. Travel is advised against.).

The first sound is a warning tone, “Увага всім”

The procedure for warning residents of danger is set out in Article 30 of the Civil Protection Code of Ukraine (Кодекс цивільного захисту України), and in the “Regulation on the Organization of Warning,” adopted under Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 733 of 2017, which implements it. This regulation has been amended eight times, most recently by Resolution No. 1089 of 3 September 2026.

Per clause 19 of the regulation, before information about a danger is broadcast, an attention-getting warning tone, “Увага всім” (“Attention, everyone”), is played first — either through an electric siren or a recording played over street loudspeakers or broadcasts. It lasts 3 to 5 minutes. Within the range of the automated warning system, it must reach residents within 5 minutes of an event occurring, or of the duty unit receiving instructions from a civil protection management body.

After the warning tone, television and radio, the internet, and mobile phone operators carry information on what is happening and how to protect yourself. The regulation calls for sign language or subtitles on audio, and audio description for video. The mobile-operator channel also includes a mechanism for displaying a message all at once on the screens of devices within the range of specific base stations (сервіс широкомовного передавання повідомлень, a cell-broadcast service) (clauses 3 and 18).

The notification that reaches your smartphone

The Ukrainian term for “air-raid alert” is “Повітряна тривога.” There is an app with the same name.

Per an announcement from the Ministry of Digital Transformation dated 1 March 2022, the app “Повітряна тривога” was an idea from the IT company stfalcon.com, released by Ajax Systems with the ministry’s support. The ministry states it was built in a single day, under emergency conditions.

The same announcement describes the app as follows:

• Notifies you when an alert starts and ends in the oblast (область) you select
• No registration is required, and it collects neither personal data nor location data
• It sounds loudly even when the device is on silent mode, not only for air raids but also for warnings such as chemical or technological disasters
• It receives alert information directly from each oblast’s administration
• The notification carries the same content as the street siren, and serves as a backup in new residential areas and small towns or villages where the siren is hard to hear

At the same time, the ministry states that this app is “one tool” and that people should also pay attention to other alerts. At the time of release, 12 oblasts were available to select.

In Kyiv, “yellow” and “red” levels from September 2026

On 6 September 2026, the city of Kyiv (the Kyiv City State Administration) announced that, by a government decision, it had begun issuing alerts by type within the city from 6:00 a.m. that day. The notifications used are as follows.

Per the announcement, each new notification shows the current type and level of threat and replaces the previous one. When the type changes, no “all clear” is issued in between. For example, if “Missile threat” follows “Drone danger,” it means the threat has changed to missiles.

As of 6 September, this system was introduced in every district except Pecherskyi (Печерський). In Holosiivskyi (Голосіївський) and Sviatoshynskyi (Святошинський) districts, it covers only some areas. In areas where the type cannot be distinguished, the city explains, the conventional siren sounds for any threat, and no all-clear tone is played.

Per the city’s announcement of 8 September, as of 7 September there were 426 digital alert installation points in the city and 146 analog ones; 50 more digital points are planned to be added by the end of the year, with the full upgrade to finish in 2027. The city’s official app, “Київ Цифровий” (Kyiv Digital), also delivers notifications in red and yellow.

Shelters fall into five categories

The Civil Protection Code also governs where to evacuate to. Article 32 was rewritten in full by Law No. 3441-IX of 8 November 2023, and partly amended again by Law No. 4778-IX of 10 February 2026. The definitions are as follows.

Shelters are treated differently in peacetime and wartime

The same Article 32 distinguishes how shelters are used in peacetime and in an emergency.

In peacetime, a shelter can be leased out for commercial, cultural, or everyday use while retaining its original purpose (clause 13). This excludes shelters that must always be kept ready for use, such as ones housing a command post or reserved for critical-infrastructure staff.

This changes once the civil protection system moves to an alert posture, an emergency occurs, a state of emergency is declared, or a “special period” (особливий період) begins. Regardless of ownership, a shelter must be made ready for use within 24 hours of entering that posture, and any leasing or other use of it must stop within 24 hours. Once ready, residents must be able to enter it around the clock, without hindrance (clause 16). Further, during martial law, military administrations (військові адміністрації) are to set the procedures for how shelters are used (clause 17).

Metro stations

Kyiv’s metro is one of the places the city uses as a shelter. Per guidance the Kyiv Metro (a municipal enterprise) posted on the city’s official website on 30 July 2026, since Russia’s full-scale invasion began, the 46 underground stations have served a dual role: carrying passengers, and serving as a round-the-clock shelter during alerts.

Per the same guidance, operations work as follows:

• At night, if an alert is issued after train service has ended, every entrance to an underground station is opened, including ones not normally in use
• If you intend to stay in the station before an alert is issued, enter before the station closes, tell a police officer or metro duty staff, and stay on the platform
• If you arrive after the station has closed but before an alert, contact police or metro staff using the phone number or call button posted at the entrance
• If an alert is issued during the day, underground stations serve both transport and shelter at once: trains keep running on underground sections, while above-ground sections stop until the all clear

The last point has been changing since September. Per the city’s announcement of 8 September, from 10 September trains are planned to keep running on the above-ground sections of the “green” line («зелена» лінія) even during a yellow-level alert. The “red” line («червона» лінія), meanwhile, will run only on its underground section, between Akademmistechko (Академмістечко) and Arsenalna (Арсенальна), at any level, the same announcement states.

When reading the news from Japan

When you read a report that “an air-raid alert has been issued,” check which oblast or city it applies to. What the threat actually was is conveyed differently in areas like Kyiv, where notifications are split by type, than in areas where they are not. Checking a report’s date and location is the same rule that applies to any other news (the five things to check first when reading news from Ukraine).

The course of events since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February 2022 is collected in a timeline of Ukraine’s independence and Russia’s invasion, 1991–2026.