RUSSIA was hit by chaos as the airspace over one of its biggest cities was shut down over reports of a UFO and millions were told to rush to nuke shelters in a new TV hack.
The double whammy of disruption also came after there were reports of Ukrainian drones attempting to strike overnight into Putin's territory as the war continues to rage.
Passenger planes from Pulkovo Airport in St Petersburg were grounded today after reports of an mysterious object overhead - with the military ordering the closure.
Fighter jets were put up over the city which has not so far faced attack in the war, and is 550 miles from the nearest point of Ukraine.
The UFO - which is suspected to have been a drone - was heading towards the Gulf of Finland.
Russian officials did not confirm the report of the UFO - but confirmed the airport was shut down.
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The state-run TASS news agency said that airspace within a 124-mile radius of Pulkovo had been closed until 1.20pm local time.
Moscow citizens were also buzzed with alerts on TV and radio blaring loud sirens.
"Air Raid Alert declared. Everyone must immediately seek shelter"," the alert warned.
Officials later claimed the alert was "fake" - and it is suspected to be the latest hack attack on Russia.
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Putin's speech last week was disrupted when hackers took several state-run TV networks off the air as he spoke.
A special “carpet” signal was issued to close airspace, but it was later lifted amid a failure to find the mystery "large drone".
Flightradar24 service indicated a presidential aircraft RA-96016 heading to St. Petersburg turned around and was seen circling over the Moscow region.
Another VIP plane bound from Moscow to Omsk was reported to have returned to the capital.
Putin was in Moscow today and expected at the Lubyanka in Moscow for a meeting with his FSB counterintelligence service.
And the chaos also comes as Russia continues to be fearful of Ukrainian strikes and sabotage on their soil potentially using drones.
Hours before the airport shut down a drone was spotted after a fire at an oil depot in Tuapse near Russian-occupied Crimea.
Drones were also spotted flying over Belgorod - with at least one being shot down.
And just yesterday, a Russian spy plane was destroyed in a suspected drone attack in Belarus.
It comes after a panic in the US where Washington ordered a slew of unidentified objects to be shot down.
UFOs have taken centre stage in Washington in recent years after a series of credible reports by fighter pilots.
Pentagon officials have admitted there are objects in the sky which are as of yet unexplained - even setting up a new investigation team.
UFOs have even been redefined as UAP - Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.
The discussion moved from theoreticals to reality however after the sighing of a giant Chinese spy balloon.
US fighter planes shot the spy ship down - but then three more mysterious objects were blasted in the following week.
Limited information has since been released about the shootdowns - and China was also playing dumb.
Beijing then claimed it was also monitoring a UFO and preparing to shoot down the object over the Yellow Sea.
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UFOs have traditionally been a fringe topic - often being relegated to the realms of conspiracy theories and being dismissed as "little green men".
But now former servicemen, officials and even former presidents Barack Obama & Bill Clinton have opened up on the topic - admitting there are objects in the sky that cannot be identified.