Late on the evening of April 19th, 2023, the Ukrainian capital of Kiev was lit up by a bright white flash in the sky, leaving many residents wondering what had caused it. While the Ukrainian military initially attributed the flash to the fall of a satellite or meteorite, later reports suggested that it may have been caused by a NASA space satellite falling to Earth.

The head of the Kiev city military administration, Sergei Popko, issued a statement that "a bright glow of an air object was observed in the sky within Kiev. According to preliminary information, this phenomenon was the result of a NASA space satellite falling to Earth. To avoid casualties from debris falling to the ground, an air alert was announced. Air defense did not work."

However, NASA officials quickly denied that their satellite had fallen over Kiev, stating that the NASA RHESSI apparatus, which observed solar flares from 2002 to 2018, was scheduled to enter the atmosphere that day, but its trajectory was far from Ukraine.

Despite the confusion surrounding the cause of the bright flash, the Ukrainian military expressed confidence that it was not related to any Russian strikes.