Twitter users found a June 6, 2014 announcement on the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense website (archived copy) detailing the handover of a Buk-M1 surface-to-air missile system to Ukraine's military from a Kharkov repair facility.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's advisor denied on Thursday that Ukraine possessed any Buk-M1 systems at the time of the July 17, 2014 Malaysia Airlines MH17 crash. On Tuesday, surface-to-air missile system manufacturer Almaz-Antey presented a report which indicated that a Buk-M1 missile, operated by the Ukrainian military, was likely responsible for the disaster.
"The first Buk-M1 surface-to-air missile system repaired in Ukraine will enter combat duty as soon as possible. The signing of the act to accept the system from repairs shows that domestic industry has mastered repairing surface-to-air systems of this type," the Ukrainian surface-to-air missile forces commander, Major General Dmitro Karpenko told the publication.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense website also details that this was the first Buk-M1 missile system repaired in Ukraine.
"The difficulty was in that unlike many other types of weapons and military equipment, the surface-to-air missile system of this type has never been developed, manufactured or repaired in Ukraine before," the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense website said.
