The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Ministry of Defense do not confirm the involvement of the Ukrainian military in the explosions at airfields in Crimea and Belarus. However, they are satisfied with the result.
Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar and Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Oleksii Hromov told about this at the briefing.
Hromov noted that the information about the explosions at the "Zyabrawka" airfield in Belarus is only available to the General Staff, which was officially reported by the Belarusian side.
"Indeed, there were explosions at the Zyabrawka airfield, the day before there were similar explosions at the Saky airfield. Every serviceman of the Armed Forces, every unit would try to attract such a "star for being shot down" to himself. But at the moment, we only have those facts that are commented on by the Ministry of Defense of Belarus and the Ministry of Defense of Russia, respectively," he explained.
At the same time, Maliar emphasized that there is no official confirmation of the involvement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the explosions in Crimea. Therefore, she urged Ukrainians not to trust anonymous sources.
"I appeal to everyone — readers, viewers, if you see in any media that some unknown representative of the Ministry of Defense without a surname, without a name, I recommend not to believe this information, because I confirm that there were no such conversations at the Ministry of Defense", she emphasized.
- In Belarus, in the Gomel region, near the border with Ukraine, on the night of August 11, explosions were heard and flashes were seen. The Ministry of Defense explained it as "engine failure".
- On August 9, explosions rang out at the military airfield in the village of Novofedorivka near the city of Saky in the occupied Crimea. This airfield is one of the key ones for Russian aviation on the peninsula. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that the explosions occurred due to the detonation of aviation ammunition at a storage site. Initially, it was reported that the equipment and soldiers were not injured, later the occupation authorities announced that one person was killed. It is still unknown why the incident happened and who is involved in it. Meanwhile, the Armed Forces report the destruction of 9 aircraft.
- The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine stated that it could not establish the cause of the fire, but once again reminded about the rules of fire safety and the prohibition of smoking in unspecified places.