Belarus claims airspace breach by Ukrainian drones: Readiness heightened

According to Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian air defense reportedly destroyed assault drones flying from Ukraine on Friday evening. The incident raised the combat readiness of the Belarusian air and air defense forces. “The Armed Forces of Ukraine violated all procedures and breached the airspace of the Republic of Belarus,” the dictator said.

Many of the reports by Russian and Belarusian media or authorities are elements of propaganda. Such reports are part of the information warfare conducted by Russia or Belarus.

“Yesterday at 6:10 PM, the air and air defense forces of Belarus were placed on higher combat readiness,” Lukashenko said.

“The fact is that – we suspect, not for the first time – the Armed Forces of Ukraine violated all procedures and breached the airspace of the Republic of Belarus in the eastern direction, in the vicinity of Kostyukovichi,” he said.

He described, at an altitude of 4,900 feet, “several targets were destroyed over the territory of Belarus.”

“Searches are underway for what was destroyed. We suspect these are assault drones that came from Ukraine. The remaining targets were hit in the Russian Federation. According to information from the Russian General Staff and the commander of this sector of the Russian air defence, these targets were hit near Yaroslavl-Smolensk, but then changed their flight path,” Lukashenko said.

“I don’t understand why Ukraine is doing this. We need to determine this. We have informed them that any provocation will not go unanswered,” said the dictator.

“It’s unpleasant that the Ukrainians, as I have repeatedly warned, are showing in this way that they are not ready for any peace and continue to escalate. Two days ago, there was an attack towards Kursk, where they advanced several dozen kilometres; today, they are already entrenching themselves. Well, this is a provocation aimed at striking Russia,” he said. He claimed this provocation “will not last long.”

“This once again shows that we must tirelessly work here and achieve the appropriate results to avoid what is happening today in Ukraine,” he concluded.

The Ukrainian side has not yet responded to these reports.

Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that at night, the Ukrainians had carried out a massive drone attack on its territory, primarily in the Kursk region. Moscow asserts that dozens of drones were destroyed.