Kyiv “does not rule out a deliberate provocation” by Russia to “engage Belarus in its war” after Minsk said it shot down a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile on Thursday, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said.
“The Ukrainian side does not exclude a deliberate provocation by the Russian terrorist state, which has laid out such a route for its cruise missiles in order to provoke their interception in the airspace over the territory of Belarus,” the ministry said. it’s a statement. a declaration.
The ministry also says it is “ready” to participate in an investigation into the circumstances of this “incident”.
Missile shot down in the morning
The missile was shot down in the morning by Belarusian air defense systems near the town of Gorbakha, in the Brest region (southwest), bordering Ukraine, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said in a press release.
“During the checks, it was preliminarily established that the debris belonged to an S-300 anti-aircraft missile launched from Ukrainian territory,” the statement said. At the moment, the Belarusian authorities have not reported any injuries or damage.
In November, the fall of a missile on a Polish town, which had killed two people, had raised fears that NATO would be involved in the conflict in Ukraine, because Poland is covered by a collective defense commitment of the Atlantic Alliance.
Ukraine had accused Russia of having fired this projectile, but according to the West and Moscow, the missile in question came a priori from a Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense system that had deviated from its trajectory.
Source: BFM TV
