Air raid sirens menacingly rang out across Kyiv on Wednesday night as a blinding flash of light streaked across the dark skies over the Ukrainian capital. Fearing an airstrike from Russia, authorities advised residents to take shelter—but it now appears the panic may have been triggered by something altogether stranger.

Initially, some reports suggested that the glare might have been the result of a NASA satellite burning up in the atmosphere. The retired Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) satellite was predicted to crash to Earth sometime on Wednesday. But at the time of the flash, a NASA spokesperson said, the satellite had still been in orbit.

Something happened in Kyiv sky tonight. The whole city is at a loss, what it was. UFO? pic.twitter.com/DAic7QHae2

— olexander scherba🇺🇦 (@olex_scherba) April 19, 2023

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📹 More video of the strange flash in #Kyiv.

We are awaiting official information from the Ukrainian Air Forces. pic.twitter.com/n55vzhlv5k

— KyivPost (@KyivPost) April 19, 2023

Read more: The Daily Beast