WATCH LIVE: Survivors of Russian war crimes in Ukraine testify in House hearing
PBS NewsHourDec 24, 2022
The Facts
A bright flash briefly lit up the Kyiv sky on Wednesday night, triggering speculation as to whether a satellite or a meteorite was hurtling towards the surface of the Ukrainian capital.
Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv's military administration, hinted that the incident was due to a NASA space satellite dropping to Earth. Earlier in the week, the US space agency announced that a retired satellite — the RHESSI spacecraft — would re-enter the atmosphere on Wednesday. However, when asked to comment, an agency spokesperson said the satellite was still in orbit at the time the flash was observed.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
US national security agencies are doing everything they can to minimize the damage from the Pentagon leaks and prevent such a disclosure from happening again, including further restricting access to sensitive documents in the future. A disclosure of this type is unlikely to reoccur.
Establishment-critical narrative
It was time for a review of security policies and procedures long before this incident occurred. The damage has now been done, and the episode only serves to highlight how the government has fallen short of protecting its most sensitive secrets.