Belarus summons Ukraine’s ambassador after air defence missile strays across border – National | 24CA News
Belarus protested to Ukraine’s ambassador on Thursday after saying it had downed a Ukrainian S-300 air protection missile in a area, throughout one among Russia’s heaviest aerial onslaughts towards Ukraine for the reason that begin of the warfare in February.
The army commissar of the Brest area, Oleg Konovalov, performed the incident down in a video posted on social media by the state-run BelTA news company, saying locals had “absolutely nothing to worry about. Unfortunately, these things happen.”
He in contrast the incident to at least one in November, when an S-300 believed to have strayed after being fired by Ukrainian air defenses landed on the territory of NATO-member Poland, triggering fears of an escalation that had been quickly defused.
Read extra:
Massive Russian missile assault in Ukraine targets energy stations amid freezing temps
Read More
Nevertheless, the Ukrainian ambassador was summoned to the international ministry in Minsk to obtain a proper protest.
“The Belarussian side views this incident as extremely serious,” spokesperson Anatoly Glaz stated.
“We demanded that the Ukrainian side conduct a thorough investigation, … hold those responsible to account and take comprehensive measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future.”
Ukraine’s protection ministry stated it was prepared to ask authoritative consultants from international locations that don’t assist “the terrorist state of Russia” to take part in an investigation of the incident, which it stated resulted from the repulsion of a “barbaric” Russian missile assault that hit civilian targets.
“The Ukrainian side, reserving the unconditional right to the defense and protection of its own sky, at the same time is ready to conduct an objective investigation in Ukraine,” the ministry stated in an announcement.
It stated it didn’t rule out a “deliberate provocation” wherein Russia launched its cruise missiles on a path the place they’d be intercepted over Belarusian territory.
A Ukrainian army spokesman additionally in impact acknowledged that the missile was a Ukrainian stray, saying the incident was “nothing strange, a result of air defense” and one thing that “has happened more than once.”
The S-300 is a Soviet-era air protection system utilized by each Russia and Ukraine.
Belarus stated the missile had come down close to the village of Harbacha within the Brest area, some 15 kms (9 miles) from the border with Ukraine, at round 10 a.m. (0700 GMT).
“Fragments were found in an agricultural field … the wreckage belongs to an S-300 anti-aircraft guided missile fired from the territory of Ukraine,” the Belarus protection ministry stated.
The missile strayed as Russia was launching its newest wave of missile assaults on cities throughout Ukraine, wherein the protection ministry stated greater than 18 residential buildings and 10 essential infrastructure targets in 10 areas had been destroyed.
BelTA printed pictures and video of what it stated had been components of an S-300 missile mendacity in an empty area.
Belarus allowed Moscow to make use of its territory in February to begin the invasion of Ukraine, and there was a rising flurry of Russian and Belarusian army exercise in Belarus in current months.
Minsk has, nonetheless, insisted that it’s not collaborating within the warfare, and won’t take part except its personal safety is threatened by Ukraine or Ukraine’s Western allies.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Jake Cordell; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Grant McCool)
