Defence Minister on how Ukrainian air targets were destroyed over Belarus and Russia, what measures were taken
Belarus’ Defence Ministry regards the incident related to the violation of the airspace of Belarus by the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a provocation that created a threat to the republic’s security – as stated by the Defence Minister, Lieutenant General Viktor Khrenin, at today’s briefing
“On August 9th, the air defence forces on duty noticed unidentified air objects flying from the territory of Ukraine in the direction of the Republic of Belarus,” Mr. Khrenin said. “In order to promptly prevent a possible violation of the state border in the airspace of the Republic of Belarus, designated forces and means were put on number one alert in a timely manner. After crossing the state border, the air targets were classified as unmanned aerial vehicles, and the command was given to destroy them. As a result of the actions of our combat crews, some of the air targets were destroyed. The others, which were outside the air defence zone, were taken under control by units of the radio engineering troops on duty to be further placed under the control of the Russian side.”
The Defence Minister disclosed the chronological order of events, “At 06.10pm, the flight of a group of targets from Ukraine towards the state border of the Republic of Belarus was registered by the on-duty forces of the radio engineering brigade. At 06.13pm, the air defence forces on duty were put on number one alert to deal with that group of targets in case of their violation of the state border. At 06.29pm, the crews of Su-30SM aircraft and Mi-24 helicopters on combat duty took off. At 06.58pm, the air targets were detected by means of an anti-aircraft missile regiment of the duty forces, they were being tracked and identified as unmanned aerial vehicles. At 07.04pm, the targets were destroyed. The aerial vehicles outside the airspace of the Republic of Belarus were transferred under the control of Russia’s Air Defence Forces and means and were also destroyed.”
The Defence Ministry regards this fact as a provocation against the Republic of Belarus, and Mr. Khrenin stressed, “Taking into account the situation developing in Ukraine and the Kursk Region of Russia, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces has instructed to strengthen the grouping of troops in the Gomel and Mozyr tactical areas in order to respond to any possible provocations. Military units of the special operations forces, ground and missile forces, including the Polonaise rocket systems and Iskander complexes, have been tasked with marching to designated areas. The forces and means of the anti-aircraft missile troops, radio engineering troops and aviation have also been enhanced. We are closely monitoring the situation and are ready to respond to any changes.”
