Ukraine: Confusion over flash seen above Kyiv as Nasa denies involvement

Bill McLoughlin20 April 2023

Nasa has denied that a flash which appeared over Kyiv during the night was a falling satellite following a wave of speculation.

In videos shared across social media, a ball of light can be seen cascading towards the ground over the Ukrainian capital shortly before 10pm local time (9pm UK time) on Wednesday.

As the orb of light moves downwards it flashes three times before disappearing.

The head of Kyiv’s military administration, Serhiy Popko, said on Telegram that an air raid alert was activated but was not in operation following the incident.

He then claimed that “this phenomenon was the result of a Nasa space satellite falling to Earth”.

The space agency announced earlier this week that an old decommissioned satellite would re-enter the atmosphere on Wednesday.

Nasa later denied the Ukrainian claims and said the satellite was still in orbit at the time of the flash.

A spokesperson said at the time: “That re-entry has not yet occurred. No other Nasa satellite re-entered the atmosphere earlier today.”

The Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) was used to observe solar flares.

The satellite was launched into low Earth orbit in 2002 and decommissioned in 2018.

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