Kiev's statement about the use of a Bayraktar drone to strike militia positions is a fake, there is no confirmation of this case, the self-proclaimed Donetsk people's republic's ambassador to the contact group for the settlement of the conflict, DNR Foreign Minister Nataliya Nikonorova, has said.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces earlier said that the military used a Bayraktar drone for the first time in Donbas, destroying an enemy howitzer with a guided bomb. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that it was checking this information. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Kiev's use of the drone did not violate the Minsk agreements and that all procedures had been observed. Russian permanent representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya called Ukraine's use of Bayraktar in Donbas a very dangerous game, Kiev may not imagine its consequences. According to the Minsk agreements, the use of drones in Donbas is prohibited, with the exception of the OSCE mission's UAVs.

"The specific case of combat use of the Bairaktar has not been confirmed, so far, according to the data we have, we can say that it is all a fake. The video circulated by the AFU General Staff, where allegedly from a Turkish UAV destroying our positions, does not coincide in fact with our information. But for some reason Kiev keeps talking about it,"- Nikonorova said in her interview.

According to her, Ukrainian security forces have previously used Turkish Bayraktar in Donbas, but only for surveillance and reconnaissance, and "these drones have never crossed the line of contact before".