(Kyiv) Minsk, an ally of Moscow, claimed on Thursday that it shot down a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile over its territory, Kyiv saying in the evening “not to exclude a deliberate provocation” from Russia to “involve Belarus in its war” .
This is the first incident of this type reported by Minsk since the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, more than ten months ago, and while Belarus serves as a rear base for Russian forces.
The missile was shot down in the morning by Belarusian air defense systems near the village of Gorbakha, in the Brest region (southwest), bordering Ukraine, the Belarusian Ministry of Defense said in a press release.
“During verifications, it was preliminary established that the debris belonged to an S-300 anti-aircraft missile launched from Ukrainian territory,” the statement said.
According to the Defense Ministry, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was “immediately informed of the incident”.
A Telegram account close to the authorities, picked up by the state news agency Belta, broadcast photos of fragments in a field.
Kyiv was quick to react officially, citing a possible “provocation” on the part of Moscow to drag Belarus into its war.
“The Ukrainian side does not exclude a deliberate provocation by the Russian terrorist state, which has traced such a route for its cruise missiles in order to provoke their interception in the airspace above the territory of Belarus,” said the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Kyiv also said it was “ready to conduct an objective investigation in Ukraine into the incident that occurred on December 29 in the sky above the territory of Belarus”, added the ministry, specifying that it wanted to cooperate with international “experts”. whose “states are not associated with the support” of Russia.
Earlier Thursday, Minsk had summoned the Ukrainian ambassador to Minsk and said it wanted to “immediately carry out a thorough investigation into the circumstances of the firing of this missile, punish those responsible and take comprehensive measures to prevent such incidents in the future, which could have catastrophic consequences”.
In November, the fall of a missile on a Polish village, which killed two people, raised fears that NATO could be drawn into the conflict in Ukraine, because Poland is protected by a commitment of collective defense of the Atlantic Alliance.
Ukraine has accused Russia of having fired this projectile, but according to the West and Moscow, the missile in question a priori came from a Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense system that had deviated from its trajectory.