KIEV – Ukraine's defense minister expressed alarm Thursday at the apparent theft of two anti-aircraft missiles and a launch system from a Ukrainian naval base in the Crimean peninsula.

"This is a critical situation for the armed forces, particularly with such a class of weaponry," the Interfax news agency quoted Defense Minister Anatoly Hrytsenko as saying.

However, Ukrainian navy chief Ihor Kynaz denied any missiles had gone missing, saying it could be a problem of a faulty inventory at the arms depot after the transfer by the Russian Black Sea fleet in Crimea of some weaponry to the Ukrainian fleet.

Guards came across two unidentified persons breaking into a weapons depot near Chernomorskoye, western Crimea, early Tuesday morning.

The two escaped, but guards then discovered a depot with a forced padlock from which two missiles stored in containers and a launch system for the Strela-3M portable air defense missile system were missing.