In fact, the unusually-shaped cloud appeared as a result of a powerful thunderstorm near Kemerovo, western Siberia.

But local residents feared the worst, due to it bearing the symbol of a nuclear explosion, with many calling the emergency services.

Others were concerned that there had been an explosion at a nearby coal mine in the Kuzbass region.

It has been identified as an cumulo-nimbus cloud, which forms when a thunderstorm reaches the highest levels of the atmosphere, causing the top of the cloud to be blown to the side.

Emergency services were inundated with calls from worried onlookers that a nuclear bomb had been dropped and that annihilation was imminent.

Despite wave of fears among the Russians, but the terrifying-looking spectacle was in reality a rather beautiful.

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