Blinding flash over Kyiv was probably meteorite, says Ukraine space agency

A mysterious flash which lit up skies implicit Ukraine's superior connected Wednesday nighttime generated overmuch speculation.

Officials successful Kyiv initially suspected it was a Nasa outer falling to Earth but the US abstraction bureau told the BBC it was inactive successful orbit.

Ukrainian abstraction officials said aboriginal the flash had astir apt travel from a meteorite entering the atmosphere.

The aerial unit was assured it was not a Russian aerial onslaught - an lawsuit each excessively acquainted since the penetration past year.

The agleam glow was observed successful the entity implicit the superior astir 22:00 (19:00 GMT).

An aerial raid alert was activated but "air defence was not successful operation", the caput of Kyiv's subject administration, Serhiy Popko, said connected Telegram.

M Popko suggested it was caused by a Nasa abstraction outer falling to Earth, referring to a retired 300kg (660lb) spacecraft that the abstraction bureau announced was acceptable to re-enter the ambiance connected Wednesday.

The RHESSI satellite, utilized to observe star flares, was launched into debased Earth orbit successful 2002 and decommissioned successful 2018, Nasa said.

But Rob Margetta from Nasa's bureau of communications told the BBC that the outer was inactive successful orbit astatine the clip the flash was observed, and was owed to re-enter Earth's ambiance during the night.

Satellite-tracking website Satflare indicated that RHESSI was obscurity adjacent Ukraine astatine the time.

Ukrainian societal media has been awash with theories and memes astir what the flash could person been, with a fashionable taxable being that it was caused by aliens.

But aerial unit spokesperson Yuri Ihnat told Ukrainian TV that the flash had besides been seen implicit neighbouring Belarus to the northbound and Ukraine's abstraction bureau said it was astir apt related to a cosmic assemblage entering the dense layers of the atmosphere.

Kyiv officials said it was up to experts to found what it was but what was astir important was the city's security.