Six Russian balloons were spotted over the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, with most shot down by the city’s air defenses, according to Kyiv’s military administration.

It’s unknown when the balloons flew over the city or whether they were carrying reconnaissance equipment, but air sirens were used in Kyiv as the balloons were in the skies, Reuters reported. 

“According to information that is now being clarified, these were balloons that move in the air under the propulsion of wind,” possibly with the intent to “detect and exhaust our air defenses,” Kyiv’s military administration wrote on Telegram on Wednesday.  

Ahead of the Ukrainian announcement, the country’s air force spokesperson, Yuriy Ihnat, said Russia could be using balloons to preserve its dwindling stocks of reconnaissance drones, according to Reuters. 

The military administration also claimed that Moscow could be using the balloons to distract Ukrainian air defenses and use up valuable munitions.  

Ukraine is not the only former Soviet state to report Russian objects over its territory in the past few days.

Moldova, which sits to Ukraine’s southwest, on Tuesday reported an unidentified Russian aerial object “resembling a meteorological balloon” in its skies, shutting its airspace for over an hour that day, Reuters reported.  

The speaker of Moldova’s parliament, Igor Grosu, told reporters the aerial object had crossed into northern Moldova from Ukraine. 

And NATO member Romania, which borders Ukraine and Moldova, said Tuesday it had sent jets up after something that looked like a weather balloon was seen in its airspace. 

The balloons are of particular interest given the recent instances of aerial objects spotted in U.S. and Canadian airspace in the past month.  

The United States and Canada shot down three unidentified objects over Alaska, Lake Huron and Canadian territory in the past week, in addition to the massive suspected Chinese spy balloon shot off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4.