Belarus accuses Ukraine of violating its airspace and increasing its troops along the border

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Belarus on Saturday sent more troops to reinforce its border with Ukraine, saying a Ukrainian drone had violated its airspace during Kiev’s military incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry summoned the Ukrainian charge d’affaires and demanded that measures be taken to ensure such incidents do not happen again, saying that a recurrence of such incidents would prompt Belarus to consider whether it is “appropriate” for Kiev to have a diplomatic presence in Minsk.

Speaking at a conference in eastern Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenko said air defense forces on Friday destroyed several of “about a dozen” Ukrainian drones that violated Belarus’ airspace over the Mogilev region bordering Russia.

Lukashenko, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies, said other missiles were later destroyed near the Russian city of Yaroslavl.

“I don’t understand why Ukraine is doing this. We have to look into this,” BelTA quoted him as saying. “But we … have made it clear and conveyed to them that we will not sit idly by in the face of any provocation.”

State television Belarus 1 broadcast footage it said was of debris from the downed drone.

In comments to BelTA, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said Minsk called for “comprehensive measures” to ensure such incidents do not happen again.

“It was noted that … if the Ukrainian diplomatic representation in Belarus fails to effectively prevent such provocations, the Belarusian side will raise the question of whether its continued presence in Minsk is appropriate.”

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Andrei Kovalenko, director of the Ukrainian state agency’s Center for Countering Disinformation, wrote on Telegram that increasing the deployment of weapons near the border was “an attempt to help Putin and divert the attention of the Ukrainian command from this region.”

Earlier on Saturday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Russian forces intercepted six drones in the Yaroslavl region.

“Taking into account the situation in Ukraine and the Kursk region of Russia, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces has ordered the reinforcement of forces in the Gomel and Mozyr tactical regions to counter such provocations,” Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said.

“Special forces, ground forces and rocket forces, including Poles and Iskander missile systems, have been sent to the designated areas.”

He said Belarus considered the violation of its airspace a provocation and was “prepared to respond.”