Belarus has moved more troops and equipment to the Ukrainian border after claiming it shot down several “aerial targets” entering the country’s airspace from Ukraine.
The country, a key Russian ally that has so far avoided deploying its own troops in the ongoing war between its neighbours, said it had detected and destroyed the objects on Friday night, August 9 – describing the incident as a “provocation”.
Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus’s long-serving president and a man commonly described as ‘Europe’s last dictator’, vowed the incident “will not go unanswered”, especially after Putin’s recent humiliation.
Speaking to the Balta News Agency, the Putin ally said: “I do not understand why Ukraine needs this. We need to figure it out. As I said before, we made it clear to them that any provocations will not go unanswered.”
The Belarusian Ministry of Defence said the aircraft were identified as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) after being detected shortly after 6pm local time (4pm GMT).
In a statement, the Belarusian ministry said: “At 18:29, the duty crews of Su-30SM aircraft and Mi-24 helicopters on combat duty were raised. At 18:58, one of the anti-aircraft missile regiments from the duty forces detected aerial targets, which were taken for tracking and identified as unmanned aerial vehicles.
“At 19:04, the targets were destroyed. Aircraft located outside the airspace of the Republic of Belarus were transferred for tracking to the air defence forces and means of the Russian Federation and were also destroyed.”
Although it has not joined the fighting in Ukraine itself since the start of the 2022 invasion, Belarus has allowed Russia to use its territory – with some Russian forces crossing from Belarusian territory into Ukraine during the opening days of the war.
The country has continued to allow Russia to base military personnel and equipment there, while several hundred Belarusian dissidents are also believed to be fighting for Ukraine.
The “provocation” message from Belarus comes after a major Ukrainian incursion into Russia – with hundreds of troops pushing into the Kursk area earlier this week and unconfirmed video footage showing Ukrainian troops and Georgian volunteers in a village in the Belgorod oblast.
In response to both the apparent drone incursion and the Ukrainian forces in Russia, the Belarusian Ministry of Defence said it had moved forces closer to the Ukrainian border – including special forces and rockets.
It said: “Considering the situation developing in Ukraine, as well as in the Kursk region of Russia, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces gave instructions to strengthen the group of troops in the Gomel and Mozyr tactical directions in order to respond to any possible provocations.
“Military units of the special operations forces, ground forces, and missile forces, including the Polonez rocket systems and Iskander complexes, were tasked with marching to designated areas.
