Ukraine’s anti-drone electronic warfare systems cause GPS glitches in civilian smartphones

Due to the active use of electronic warfare (EW) systems by the Ukrainian military to combat Russian drones, Ukrainian civilians faced technical failures in their smartphones. In some cases, their devices mistakenly displayed the time in the Russian time zone instead of the local one.

During the recent attack on Kyiv, many Ukrainians faced a strange problem – their smartphones began to show their location in Russian cities such as Moscow or Kursk, and accordingly, adjust the time according to the Russian time zone. This has resulted in many people being late for work, missing important calls or meetings.

In response, the General Staff of Ukraine explained that similar problems could be caused by the use of military EW systems imitating GPS signals to counter Russian drones. These systems cause drones to lose their orientation, steering them in the wrong direction or causing them to fall. However, such signals can also affect civilian devices, changing the location or time.

• In this regard, the Ukrainian military advises citizens to turn off the automatic time update on their devices in order to avoid such failures.

Ukrainians are actively discussing this incident in social networks. One of the users warned others: “Friends, if you don’t want to be late like me, turn off the automatic time update on your phone. Otherwise, you risk being on Kursk time!”