Did aliens turn Soviet soldiers to stone? Chilling encounter revealed by CIA

Buried among the Cold War’s many secrets lies a file that feels more like science fiction than classified intelligence—yet it comes straight from the archives of the CIA. Declassified in 2000 but going viral again decades later, the document recounts a bizarre and chilling event: an alleged encounter between Soviet troops and extraterrestrial beings that ended in death!

The 250-page KGB report, reportedly obtained by the CIA following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, describes in disturbing detail what happened after a platoon of Soviet soldiers opened fire on a mysterious flying saucer during a training exercise in Ukraine. The saucer had been hovering low in the sky when the troops, apparently acting on impulse or fear, engaged it.

According to the file, the saucer crashed nearby—and what emerged from the wreckage was beyond comprehension. “Five short humanoids with large heads and large black eyes” stepped out, the report claims. Then, something even stranger happened. As the surviving soldiers recounted, the beings came together, merging into a “single object that acquired a spherical shape.”


“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,” the report states.

Only two soldiers survived. Their location—in the shade, partially shielded from the blast—spared them the fate of their comrades. KGB agents swiftly seized the remains and the wreckage, transporting both to a secret facility near Moscow. Soviet scientists were said to be baffled by what they found: the bodies of the soldiers had been transformed at the cellular level into a limestone-like substance.

An unnamed CIA analyst, clearly disturbed by the contents of the file, reportedly wrote: “A horrific picture of revenge on the part of extraterrestrial creatures, a picture that makes one’s blood freeze.”


The conclusion drawn in the CIA’s final assessment was just as unsettling: “If the KGB file corresponds to reality, this is an extremely menacing case. The Aliens possess such weapons and technology that go beyond all our assumptions. They can stand up for themselves if attacked.”

Originally picked up by Canadian tabloid Weekly World News and Ukraine’s Holos Ukrayiny, the story might have faded into obscurity—if not for the growing public interest in UFOs. Mentions of the case resurfaced after the U.S. Department of Defense launched its UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) Task Force in 2020. It even earned a segment on The Joe Rogan Experience, where the tale's strangeness captured listeners all over again.