July 6, 2002	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 24,1423

TEL AVIV, July 5: The pilot of an El Al flight between Tel Aviv and Moscow reported on Friday seeing a “strong flash” over night in Ukrainian airspace that he believed was due to a missile exploding, but Ukrainian officials ruled out any involvement by their armed forces.

Giving credence to the Israeli account, a Russian pilot also reported seeing a similar flash over the Ukraine.

“An El Al pilot reported a ‘strong flash’ at a distance from his plane difficult to evaluate at night,” the airline’s deputy director, Yitzhak Amitai, told public radio in Tel Aviv.

“This incident is currently the subject of an investigation in both Israel and Russia,” he said.

The incident is said to have occurred as the plane was flying just south of Dnipropetrovsk, in southeastern Ukraine.

A Russian pilot, flying a Urals Airlines plane, informed Ukrainian air traffic controllers that he had also seen a strong flash, a senior Ukrainian transport ministry official Yaroslav Skalko said.

However, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma disclaimed all responsibility.

“I reject this. It’s absurd,” he said in Copenhagen, where he was taking part in a European Union-Ukraine summit.

“After last year’s unfortunate incidents, firing missiles is totally banned in Ukraine,” he said.

—AFP