One of the most bizarre accounts of a UFO encounter originates from the former Soviet Union, involving an incident where dozens of soldiers were allegedly turned to stone by extraterrestrial beings.

According to a report from the period, troops shot down an alien spacecraft flying over Siberia in 1993 using a surface-to-air missile. Five beings purportedly emerged from the wreckage and transformed into a glowing orb that discharged a beam of light, instantly petrifying 23 soldiers, with only a handful of survivors left to recount the experience.

This extraordinary story appeared in a Ukrainian newspaper and was even referenced in a declassified CIA file, which suggested that if authentic, it would demonstrate the existence of highly sophisticated alien technology presenting a substantial threat when antagonised. It follows Stephen Hawking's prediction of the precise date of the apocalypse, with NASA issuing a warning.

Despite public denial by the then USSR, dismissing reports of UFO sightings and alien encounters as merely Western fabrications, newly released documents disclose that the Soviets were discreetly documenting and examining unusual aerial phenomena, reports the Express.

Throughout the 70s and 80s, institutions routinely recorded what they described as 'Abnormal Atmospheric Phenomena'. One of the most striking entries is dated February 13, 1989, and describes a large aerial object spotted over Nalchik, in southern Russia. Witnesses reported a 'jellyfish'-like shape that allegedly hovered in the sky for more than an hour before disappearing entirely.

While absent from the declassified files, the most notorious case involved a low-flying, saucer-shaped craft reportedly appearing above a Soviet military unit during training exercises in Siberia.

After the craft was allegedly brought down by a missile, five figures are said to have emerged from the wreckage before merging into a single "spherical object" that "began to buzz and hiss sharply", swelled in size and detonated, releasing a burst of light that purportedly turned 23 nearby soldiers into stone pillars. It is claimed that two survivors were spared due to their lesser exposure.

According to reports, the remnants of the UFO and the petrified soldiers were allegedly transported to a clandestine scientific research facility near Moscow, where experts concluded the men had been transformed into a substance identical to limestone.

While the CIA did acknowledge the Ukrainian report referencing KGB leaks, the document is merely a reprint of a 1993 Ukrainian article and does not constitute part of an investigative report corroborating its contents.

This comes as Barack Obama confessed aliens are real before lifting the lid on Area 51.