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A team of Ukrainian astronomers claims to have spotted more than 20 faint objects near the Moon
A team of Ukrainian astronomers has published a non-peer-reviewed “preprint” claiming to have spotted more than 20 UFOs near the Moon in high-speed telescope footage from 2025, with some estimated to be 15-25 miles wide based on an assumption that the objects are at lunar distance.
The researchers — scientists at Ukraine’s Main Astronomical Observatory — suggest the objects’ patterns could indicate “structured, technological behavior” and suggest they could be originating from a hidden extraterrestrial base on the Moon.
The paper, however, has not been peer-reviewed, no raw footage has been made publicly available, and no independent verification exists. A preprint is a complete draft of a scientific or scholarly research paper that is shared publicly online before it undergoes formal peer review and publication in an academic journal.
Ukrainian astronomers published a non-peer-reviewed preprint claiming to have spotted a fleet of UFOs near the Moon
Scientists issue warning after spotting more than 20 giant UFOs racing across the moon pic.twitter.com/l5EXnlIge6
— Daily Mail (@DailyMail) August 5, 2026
“Researchers recorded the main group of more than 20 unidentified objects during two observation periods on September 7, 2025, beginning at 7.05pm and 7.27pm ET. They reported detecting additional ring-shaped objects during a separate observation on August 16, 2025, at 2.52am ET.”
“The researchers claimed the objects could reach Earth within 20 minutes and appear in the atmosphere as UAPs. They argued that the objects’ apparently intelligent behavior could point to the existence of a ‘technologically advanced civilization.'” [via Daily Mail]
The researchers also claimed to have spotted what they called “continental UFOs”, which appeared to race across the lunar surface at an astonishing 4.1 miles per second.
Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences, however, previously rejected similar papers from the same team over methodological issues, including distance calculation errors.
Experts have noted that similar lunar anomaly claims have historically been traced to atmospheric phenomena, camera artifacts, or satellites rather than extraterrestrial activity.