Voronezh UFO Incident

The Russian UFO incident that caught international media attention

Name	Voronezh UFO Incident
Occurred on	September 27, 1989
Seen by	Dozens of school-age children and adults who were at the local park at the time
Investigated by	The Soviet government and mediaSoviet Scientific CommissionVoronezh Geophysical Laboratory

On October 9, 1989, the Soviet press agency TASS broke the news that a UFO landed in Voronezh, a city 300 miles southeast of Moscow. Thanks to this news story, this incident, appropriately called the “Voronezh UFO incident,” became a worldwide sensation due to the direct encounter the witnesses claimed they experienced and the science-based investigations the experts conducted.

So, what really happened that night in Voronezh in 1989? Let’s discuss it, along with the events that took place after it happened.

What Is the Voronezh UFO Incident About?

The Voronezh UFO incident was unlike other UFO encounters, where a few witnesses would see abnormally moving, flickering lights at night or chase after unidentified crafts flying at impossible speeds. It was witnessed by children playing and adults walking around the local park, who claimed to have seen not only the UFO landing but also its otherworldly occupants wandering through the park. 

A Breakdown of the Voronezh UFO Incident

This incident occurred on September 27, 1989 at around 6:30 PM at a public park in Voronezh, Soviet Union. According to the witnesses TASS talked to, this was what happened:

• A deep-red orb-like craft appeared in the sky, approximately 10 meters in diameter, and began circling the park.
• On the lower part of the craft, a hatch opened, and a humanoid being appeared through it. 
• The hatch closed, and the craft descended to land in the park.
• After landing, the gathered crowd saw up to three humanoid beings and a robot exit from the craft for a promenade.
  • The humanoid beings were described as follows:
    • Nearly 3–4 meters (~9–13 feet) tall
    • Had small heads
    • Had three eyes, with the center eye rotating like a radar
    • Had a disk on their chests
    • Dressed in silvery overalls and bronze boots
  • The robot accompanying them was described as follows:
    • Shaped like a box
    • Made of metallic material
• A boy, overwhelmed with fear, began to scream, but a stare from one of the humanoid beings silenced and paralyzed him. 
• The crowd then erupted in screams when that happened.
• One of the humanoid beings returned to the craft and came back now holding what looked like a gun (a tube about 20 inches long) that he pointed at a 16-year-old boy [TASS didn’t mention if it was the same boy earlier].
• The boy vanished into thin air, and the crowd screamed even louder.
• Finally, the otherworldly visitors returned to their craft and took off into the night sky.
• The 16-year-old boy reappeared, intact, but very much afraid, almost immediately after they left. 
• The crowd that witnessed this event was “overwhelmed with a fear that lasted for several days.”

Witnesses to the Voronezh UFO incident

The witnesses all described seeing the same inexplicable event unfold before their eyes. Sovetskaya Kultura correspondent E. Efremov supported this in the Schenectady Gazette’s story:

Children and eyewitnesses of the abnormal phenomena have been questioned by police workers and journalists. There are no discrepancies in the description of the sphere itself, or the actions of the “aliens.” 

While TASS didn’t name these witnesses, its correspondent, Vladimir V. Lebedev, admitted to having spoken to about 10 youngsters aged 12–13, who were his sources. He believed that “something truly had happened,” otherwise these youngsters wouldn’t have been so frightened to this extent.

It was only later, through the newspaper Sovetskaya Kultura, that the public became aware of three schoolchildren who had come forward as alleged witnesses to this event. 

• Vasya Surin
• Zhenya Blinov
• Yuliya Sholokhova

The Subsequent Media Frenzy

Scientists have confirmed that an unidentified flying object recently landed in a park in the Russian city of Voronezh. They have also identified the landing site and found traces of aliens who made a short promenade about the park.

The moment the Soviet and international media read such a news story, and from TASS, an official government paper no less, it was expected that a frenzy would ensue. That frenzy created a mass following for the Voronezh UFO incident, making it the most widely known and talked-about Russian UFO incident today.

Some speculated that the incident garnered such a reputation, particularly among the Soviets, due to the glasnost policy (openness in the media). Another reason was that the people had waning belief in the Soviet Union, and alien stories gave them “a less depressing” thing to think about.

The Media Outlets to Report It

Several Soviet and international news organizations reported the Voronezh UFO incident, including:

• TASS
• Vremya
• Sovletskaya Kultura
• Associated Press
• New York Times
• Schenectady Gazette
• TIME
• Ellensburg Daily Record
• Skeptical Inquirer
• French Press Agency
• Socialist Industry

Most of these organizations based their early reports on TASS’s, so we won’t go into much detail about it here. Instead, we’ll feature others with new information, such as the coverage Vremya had done.

Vremya 

Shortly after TASS’s breakout story, the Soviet evening news program Vremya sent a film crew to Voronezh. They met with the children, and according to reports, found no other witnesses except them. 

The team at Vremya had some doubts, for instance, as to why no adult witnesses had come forward. Regardless, they offered no comment when Vasya Surin gave his account of this incident:

We were scared. It hovered over this tree. Then the door opened and a tall person of about three meters looked out. He didn’t have a head, or shoulders either. He just had a kind of hump. There, he had three eyes, two on each side and one in the middle.

Vasya Surin added that the “alien had two holes instead of a nose, and could not turn its head, so it had to swivel its middle eye.”

Later, Vremya ended the report on a “very skeptical note.” 

Paul Kurtz, the chairman of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), saw this news from Vremya being aired on CNN. He said that the news suggested an alternative explanation: 

The creative imagination of young children was perhaps at work. If so, this is not unlike many UFO cases in the U.S.

Investigations and Explanations

Several people, like the Voronezh authorities, scientists, and TASS, treat this UFO incident “as a serious scientific phenomenon.” One Lt. Sergei A. Matveyev of the Voronezh district police, for example, said that though he didn’t see the humanoid beings, he did see the spaceship “flying in the sky.”

So, what did the group that investigated the UFO landing say about this? 

From Genrikh Silanov and the Voronezh Geophysical Laboratory

Genrikh Silanov, the head of the Voronezh Geophysical Laboratory (VGL), was a key figure in the early reports of the Voronezh UFO incident. TASS, in particular, included claims based on Silanov’s alleged statements. 

According to the TASS reports, Silanov’s team discovered a 20-yard depression with four deep dents, which appeared to match where the landing gear might have rested. The area also showed elevated levels of radioactive isotope cesium. 

Two mysterious rock fragments were also recovered there. To quote Silanov:

At first glance, they look like sandstone of a deep red color. However, mineralogical analysis has shown that the substance cannot be found on Earth. However, additional tests are needed to reach a more definite conclusion.

Additionally, TASS claimed that the location of the landing site and the paths allegedly taken by the humanoid beings were verified using a method called “biolocation.”³ The news agency provided no details to explain this technique.

In a follow-up by Lebedev, it was said that Silanov had asked the children (who were isolated from one another) to draw what they saw. Many of them drew a “banana-shaped” object that left an X-shaped trail in the sky, a description said to resemble UFO sightings reported in a 1976 article in the now-defunct American magazine Saga. 

Silanov vs TASS 

It was found in later reports that TASS misinterpreted or misunderstood Silanov’s statements, and he sought to clarify the facts. In an interview with the Associated Press on October 11, he bluntly stated, “Don’t believe all you hear from TASS. We never gave them part of what they published.”

He clarified that the two rock fragments were, in fact, a form of hematite, an iron oxide commonly found in the Soviet Union. He also downplayed the certainty of the “landing site,” saying that while there was a notable depression in the ground, it could’ve been caused by mundane factors, such as underground pipes, cables, or even a reservoir. 

As for the children’s testimonies, he noted inconsistencies in their descriptions of the supposed beings, including the fact that none of them mentioned the “tremendous height” of the humanoid beings that TASS reported.

Silanov, with colleague Yuluzutzev, was also asked by the newspaper Socialist Industry about TASS’s claim that the UFO landing had been “confirmed as a fact by specialists.” Unequivocally, both replied, “We protest this wording!”

From the Soviet Scientific Commission

The commission ordered an inquiry into the Voronezh UFO incident. Little was known about what the scientists who studied it had done or how they did it. Fortunately, the Skeptical Inquirer featured a report the French Press Agency issued on October 28.

To quote:

There exists no verifiable proof of a landing by aliens in Voronezh. Sixteen radiometric analyses, 19 checks of the ground, 9 tests for micro-organisms, and 20 spectro-chemical measurements failed to uncover “any anomaly either in the Earth or surrounding vegetation” that might indicate the landing of an unidentified flying object, the commission reported.

Igor Sarotsev, vice-rector of the University of Voronezh and chairman of the commission, said that the presence of a larger than normal quantity of the radioactive isotope cesium in the area of the alleged sighting did not constitute proof of a landing. 

“After Chernobyl, this kind of phenomenon has been found in many areas,” Sarotsev said.

Note: Sarotsev was referring to the Chernobyl disaster, where its nuclear power plant exploded in April 1986.

Voronezh UFO Incident’s Significance in Ufology

No other UFO story from Russia has gained as much fame worldwide as the Voronezh UFO incident. People still talk about it, not because it proves aliens are real, but because it showed a rare time when Soviet people were allowed to openly talk about strange, mysterious things.

Whether the children in the park truly saw aliens or just imagined them together, their story shows how people naturally want to explore the unknown. Even now, as scientists take UFO research more seriously, the Voronezh case reminds us that what’s most interesting isn’t always the proof, but what the story says about the people and culture at the time.

Curious to explore more legendary UFO cases? Visit UFO Connect for deep dives, rare reports, and expert analysis that bring these mysteries to life.

FAQ

Was the Voronezh UFO Incident ever debunked? 

No. It remains unexplained to this day. 

Had the frightened witnesses sought medical help?

We can’t say for certain if they did. 

When the New York Times asked Director Vladimir A. Moiseyev⁷ of the regional health department about it, he replied that no witness had applied for medical help. However, there were plans to examine the children. The thing was, two weeks had passed since the incident, yet the examination hadn’t taken place.

How did the West react to the Voronezh UFO?

The West was very skeptical about it. Also, one of Paul Kurtz’s acquaintances was hesitant to question the validity of the Voronezh UFO incident because the reports quoted scientists and seemed to be authentic.