Belarus accuses Ukraine of violating airspace, sends more troops to border
- President Lukashenko says air defence forces destroyed ‘about a dozen’ of Kyiv’s drones linked to its offensive in Russia’s Kursk region
Belarus sent more troops to reinforce its border with Ukraine on Saturday, saying Ukrainian drones had violated its airspace during Kyiv’s military incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.
Belarus’ Foreign Ministry summoned Ukraine’s charge d’affaires, demanded measures to ensure such incidents would not recur and suggested a repeat would prompt Belarus to consider whether Kyiv’s diplomatic presence in Minsk was “appropriate”.
President Alexander Lukashenko, addressing a meeting in eastern Belarus, said air defence forces on Friday destroyed several of “about a dozen” Ukrainian drones after they violated Belarusian airspace in the Mogilev region bordering Russia.
Lukashenko, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies, said others were later destroyed near the Russian city of Yaroslavl.
“I don’t understand why Ukraine had to do this. We have to look into it,” the BelTA news agency quoted him as saying. “But we have … made ourselves clear and conveyed to them that any provocation will not go unanswered.”
The state television channel Belarus1 showed footage of what it said were fragments of downed drones.
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