ISS images capture rare view of Russian missile strike on Kyiv, analyst says

Record ID: 2369042

  • Title: ISS images capture rare view of Russian missile strike on Kyiv, analyst says
  • Date: 23rd March 2026
  • Summary: MODENA, ITALY (RECENT - FEBRUARY 25, 2026) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) TIMELAPSE ARTIST AND SPACE ENTHUSIAST, RICCARDO ROSSI, SAYING: "Every time I make a timelapse I feel a sense of wonder if I see a meteor, a northern light... or an hurricane also is a frightening event and it is very dangerous for the people. But this time is for me a tangible way to see what happen
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Russia air defence attack blackouts military missiles war in Ukraine
  • Location: IN SPACE / INTERNET / KYIV, UKRAINE / MODENA, ITALY / LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • City: IN SPACE / INTERNET / KYIV, UKRAINE / MODENA, ITALY / LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe,Military Conflicts
  • Reuters ID: LVA002436216032026RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Images taken from the International Space Station in the early hours of Dec. 27, 2025, appear to show Russian ballistic missiles streaking toward Kyiv and explosions from Ukrainian air defences, according to specialists who reviewed the footage.
    Riccardo Rossi, an Italian space enthusiast who creates time lapse videos from astronaut photography in his spare time, posted a time lapse of the NASA photographs on his Youtube channel and X account, which was quickly picked up by Ukrainian OSINT channels on February 25, a day after the war's fourth anniversary.
    He said he had never seen military activity so clearly from orbit during his 12 years of work.
    Rossi said he felt "a sense of wonder" when capturing natural events like meteors or auroras, but called the Kyiv sequence "a tangible way to see what happened there."
    The ISS passed over the Ukrainian capital at around 01:56-01:59 a.m. Kyiv time when the images were taken.
    The footage shows two bright streaks crossing the frame from the north-east towards Kyiv before disappearing amid explosions in and near the capital.
    Rollo Collins, a senior investigator with the Centre for Information Resilience, an open‑source investigations nonprofit, said his team compared the images with Ukrainian air force and monitoring channels.
    He said there was "a complete link" between alerts issued at around 2 a.m. and what appeared on the ISS imagery.
    Collins said the centre he works for found it likely the footage showed a Russian ballistic strike on Kyiv, with air defence systems firing in response.
    He said the objects visible in the images were "categorically not aircraft" and were consistent with ballistic missiles or possibly a Kinzhal, a hypersonic missile regularly used by Russia to strike targets in Ukraine.
    At 1:56 a.m. Kyiv time, Ukraine's air forces reported a "high-speed target" heading from the north towards Kyiv, and at 1:58 a.m., it reported another high-speed target heading towards the capital from the south.
    The ISS images also show a stark contrast between the brightly lit regions of Russia and Central Europe and the darker outline of Ukraine, Collins added.
    Power shortages have been frequent during winter and spring due to Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, which he said was the likely target of the December 27 attack.
    (Production: Felix Hoske)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2026. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register