Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, responded to the information about Russia's use of Ukrainian Tu-160 bombers, received 25 years ago from Ukraine . The lieutenant general noted that it is corruption and incompetence that lead to such anti-state decisions.
Points of attention
- Corruption and incompetence of Ukrainian officials lead to anti-state decisions, such as the secret transfer of aviation to Russia.
- The identification of Ukrainian aircraft as part of the Russian military underscores the importance of investigating and preventing such violations to ensure national security.
- Kyrylo Budanov emphasized that the interests of the state should become the main priority for everyone.
Budanov urged not to allow such crimes for the sake of Ukraine's victory
Corruption, incompetence and lack of strategic vision lead to anti-state decisions. As a country and a nation that pays an extremely high price in the fight for its own freedom, we have no right to allow the repetition of such mistakes and crimes.
Kyrylo Budanov
Head of GUR MOU
The head of the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine emphasized the importance of a journalistic investigation into Russia's use of Ukrainian aviation. In particular, the planes that Ukraine handed over to the Russian Federation in the 1990s in exchange for debt repayment for the consumed Russian gas.
We will be able to defeat the enemy and reliably protect Ukraine when we change irreversibly. The interests of the state should become the main priority for everyone, Kyrylo Budanov emphasized.
Ukrainian bombers in the Russian army — what is known
Journalists of the "Scheme" project conducted a detailed analysis of open data and compared the serial numbers of the aircraft in the agreement of those times, which were searched in the archive, data from international air registers and numbers of bombers used by the Russian Federation, which was recorded by the GUR.
As a result, it was possible to identify ten Ukrainian strategic aircraft, which Kyiv handed over to Moscow.
What is important to understand, first of all, about the Tu-160, which was given other names in Russia:
"Mykola Kuznetsov" (previously it was a Ukrainian plane with flight number "10"),
"Vasyl Senko" ("11"),
"Olexander Novikov" ("12"),
"Volodymyr Sudets" ("15"),
"Aleksii Plokhov" ("16"),
"Andrii Tupolev" ("18"),
"Ihor Sikorsky" ("22").
Investigators draw attention to the fact that at least 6 aircraft are in combat formation of the Russian army.
In addition, it was possible to discover an agreement between the Ukrainian government headed by Valery Pustovoytenko and the Russian government under the leadership of Vladimir Putin, signed in Yalta in 1999.
According to it, Ukraine transferred to the Russian Federation 8 Tu-160 heavy bombers and three Tu-95MS, as well as 575 Kh-55 cruise missiles. For this, Moscow compensated Ukraine for the debt for Russian gas — in the amount of 275 million hryvnias. This is the determined cost of the transferred equipment.
In addition, it is indicated that the transfer of aircraft and missiles took place without the consent of the Parliament of Ukraine. According to the journalists, the cost of the specified weapons was underestimated by as much as ten times.
