The UFO (not pictured) was reportedly shot at by the Soviets over Ukraine (Picture: Getty Images)

Somewhere in a secret scientific building outside Moscow stand the remains of 23 Soviet soldiers,turned to stone by light that exploded from a UFO.

At least,that’s what a declassified CIA file from 1993 might have you believe.

The eye-popping report has gone viral again in recent days,thanks to its insight into the sorts of bizarre events that were recorded by secret services during the Cold War.

Agents from the US Central Intelligence Agency filed the memo after getting hold of 250 pages written up by the Soviet Union’s KGB spy agency.

In terms straight out of an HG Wells novel,the author describes the case as ‘a horrific picture of revenge on the part of extraterrestrial creatures,a picture that makes one’s blood freeze’.

It’s claimed that the Soviets were conducting a training exercise in Ukraine around 1989 or 1990,when they spotted a ‘low-flying spaceship in the shape of a saucer’ flying above.

Naturally,they responded by launching a missile at the UFO,and it was sent crashing to the ground.

The report describes how it ‘fell to Earth not far away,and five short humanoids with large heads and large black eyes emerged from it’.

Things only get weirder from there. The beings then huddled together and ‘merged into a single object that acquired a spherical shape’.

The report continues: ‘In a few seconds,the spheres grew much bigger and exploded by flaring up with an extremely bright light. At that very instant,23 soldiers who had watched the phenomenon turned into… stone poles.’

Part of the file that was first declassified in 2000 (Picture: CIA)

‘Only two soldiers who stood in the shade and were less exposed to the luminous explosion survived.’

Soviet scientists said whatever the light was,it somehow managed to transform the soldiers into a substance that was identical to limestone.

It also claims the cause was a ‘source of energy’ that is not yet known to humans.

Other 'alien' sightings and stories

Stories of potential alien life are nothing new after a pair of ‘alien mummies’ mysteriously turned up in a Peruvian airport.The strange figurines turned up in the Lima airport offices of courier DHL in a cardboard box,and were made to look like mummified bodies dressed in traditional Andean attire. But sadly a forensics team soon found out that they were not genuine extraterrestrials.More recently,Joe McMoneagle,who claims he is a former CIA agent,says he has seen evidence of life on Mars.S. Somanath,an Indian aerospace engineer,also told us previously that there are ‘definitely aliens out there’.He told The Ranveer Show host Ranveer Allahbadia: ‘Absolutely,without a doubt. My conscience tells me yes,although I have no proof. As the chairman of ISRO,I am telling you this.’The soldiers and UFO were reportedly taken by the KGB to a secret base in Moscow.Oddly enough,no mention is made of what happened to the two soldiers who supposedly survived the (literally) petrifying attack.In an impressive understatement,the report concludes: ‘If the KGB file corresponds to reality,this is an extremely menacing case.Stories of aliens,like the supposed ‘mummies’ from Peru,continue to fascinate the public (Picture: Cris Bouroncle/AFP via Getty Images)‘The Aliens possess such weapons and technology that go beyond all our assumptions.‘They can stand up for themselves if attacked.’The declassified file was first published in May 2000 by Canadian Weekly World News and the Ukrainian paper Holos Ukrayiny.Earlier this year,it was revealed that the FBI – the domestic equivalent of the CIA – has an ‘informal working group’ investigating UFO sightings.But the existence of the group was only made public because it’s thought to currently be under threat from the Trump administration.People familiar with the secretive team told political news site Politico several of the FBI agents within it have also been involved in investigations relating to the January 6 Capitol riot in 2021,putting them at risk of a purge.