New reports say that an unidentified flying object was found near a nuclear power plant near St. Petersburg, which is the second largest city in Russia.
Local and state media in Russia said on Wednesday that an alarm went off around the Leningrad nuclear power plant in the town of Sosnovy Bor.
Russian sources said that the object was moving at about 200 kilometers per hour (124 miles per hour) at a height of about 10,000 meters (33,000 feet).
A military officer told the Russian online newspaper Lenta.ru that the alert caused a "special response status." "This is a common issue," reserve colonel Andrey Koshkin told state media.
"This could be a weather balloon," he said. "It could be Russian or from somewhere else." But the Russian government hasn't said anything about the mystery object yet.
The Russian military kept an eye on the object, the state news agency Tass said. An unnamed security source told Tass on Wednesday that the unknown object was moving "as fast as the wind."
"This means that it doesn't have engines, so it's not a drone or an airplane," the source said, adding that there was "no reason" for the alarm signal.
But, the source told state media, "our air defense system is fully ready to act if necessary." Then, Tass said that a Russian official in the region denied the reports.
After unsubstantiated claims of a UFO, Russian authorities blocked the airspace around St. Petersburg in late February. Pulkovo, the city's main airport, temporarily stopped all flights.
Local authorities observed a UFO above Rostov Oblast in early January. Vasily Golubev, the region's governor, claimed officials had "liquidated" it.
Golubev said in a post on Telegram that air defense systems were warned about a "small object in the shape of a ball" flying at a height of 1.5 miles.
He also said that it was near the village of Sultan Sala and was flying "freely in the wind." "Anti-aircraft defenses cover the sky," Golubev wrote, telling people in the area to "stay calm."
"All forces and ways are used to make sure security," he said next. Since the beginning of 2023, several unidentified objects have been seen, including a few in North American airspace.