Belarus reinforces military power on its Ukraine borders after drone interceptions
By Mariya Knight, CNN
(CNN) — Belarus sent military reinforcements to its border with Ukraine Saturday after it said several Ukrainian drones crossed its airspace and were intercepted by the country’s air defenses on Friday, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said in a statement.
“We suspect these are attack drones,” Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said during a separate briefing Saturday. He called the incident “a provocation” and said “the general staff of Belarus has been ordered to take relevant measures to ensure the security of the state.”
“Ukrainians show in this way that they are not ready for peace and continue to escalate this tension,” Lukashenko said, speaking of the recent Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory.
Khrenin told journalists “considering the situation in Ukraine and in the Kursk region of Russia” Lukashenko “has ordered to strengthen the grouping of troops” in the Gomel and Mozyr areas bordering Ukraine “in order to respond” to Ukrainian “provocations.”
“Military units of special operations forces, ground troops and rocket forces, including ‘Polonez’ systems and ‘Iskander’ (ballistic missile) complexes, have been tasked with marching to the designated areas. Air defense, rocket defense and aviation forces and assets have been built-up,” Khrenin said.
On Saturday, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry summoned the Charge d’Affaires of Ukraine and “lodged a strong protest” in connection with the incident, the ministry said in a post on X.
“The Ukrainian diplomat was warned that in case of repetition of such provocations #Belarus reserves the right to take retaliatory steps to protect its territory,” the ministry said, adding it “may question the necessity of the continued presence of the #Ukrainian diplomatic mission in Minsk.”
The ministry blamed Ukraine for “criminal actions” to “radically escalate the situation and represent a dangerous attempt to expand the zone of the current conflict in our region.” It asked the rest of Europe to not escalate the situation.
Ukraine has not publicly commented on Belarus’ accusations.
“We appeal to the peoples of neighboring Europe: in the event of an expansion of the conflict, the fire will spread throughout the region, including to the EU countries. There will be no winners!” the ministry said on X.
Belarusian state media BelTA said Saturday the Foreign Ministry will initiate consultations with allies and partners, as well as international organizations following the incident.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
