Unguarded tanks at the Kharkiv Armor Plant are surplus military equipment belonging to the Defense Ministry, Ukroboronprom State Concern's press service has said. The statement came after a video clip made by local roofers and posted to YouTube went viral.

Ukroboronprom said that current laws prevent safely storing property of the Defense Ministry, adding an investigation is underway.

Earlier, the authors of the video clip said they freely entered the site where 300 old Soviet tanks and about ten new ones are stored. They claim that this is an abandoned military base. In fact, according to the description of the location of the site, the video was shot in the territory of the Kharkiv Armor Plant, where military equipment is being repaired.

Later, the Defense Ministry said that the video was shot at a Kharkiv enterprise, and not at the Kharkiv Armor Plant.

Police opened criminal proceedings under Part 1, Article 162 (unlawful entry into a dwelling or other possession of a person, illegal inspection or search in them, as well as illegal eviction or other acts that violate the inviolability of citizens' housing) of Ukraine's Criminal Code.