Odesa regional police have denied an official statement made by the Ukrainian Armed Forces regarding the raider seizure of a military unit near Odesa and said that ordinary builders arrived at the scene and started work near the territory of the military base.

"I want to refute the information spread by the press service. The duty officer received a report on the actions said. The police left for the scene and found that, first and foremost, the construction work in question was taking place on the territory adjacent to the military unit, that is beyond its borders. The developer has all the necessary documents from local government agencies," an adviser to the head of the National Police's main office in Odesa region, Ruslan Forostiak said live on the 112 Ukraine television channel on Sunday, October 29.

In addition, he said, after examining the cameras and studying the materials, the law enforcers found out that the persons who arrived in the morning to the military unit were "not 'titushky' [hired thugs] or unidentified persons in balaclavas, but ordinary builders who put up their fence using machinery."

"This is usual construction process without any violence and 'titushky,'" he said.

Forostiak said that there were land disputes between the military unit and business representatives.

"I know that the conflict has been going on for a long time, and the reason is that the land located beyond the fence of the military unit is of interest to both military and various businessmen. I know that the city council allocated part of this land for the construction of a hypermarket," he said.

He said that police had opened no criminal proceedings due to the incident.

Forostiak also added that the property, which was reported to have been removed from the military unit, was actually construction waste.

As reported, early on Sunday, October 29, the command of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported the attempted raider capture of a military facility and the theft of military property.

"Today [on October 29] in Odesa, at about 08.45, unidentified persons, about 40 people in balaclavas, attempted to seize part of the territory of the military facility, which is the property of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. Unidentified individuals who position themselves as representatives of the Citi Center shopping and entertainment center partially dismantled the fence of military unit A3571 and removed military equipment in an unknown direction," reads a statement released by the command.