Belarus: 'Unlikely' downed Ukrainian missile entered airspace by accident

The Belarusian government has accused Ukraine of “provoking a regional conflict,” saying it was “unlikely” that a Ukrainian air defense missile downed on Thursday had entered Belarusian airspace by accident.

In an interview with the Russian state-owned outlet Sputnik Belarus on Friday, the Secretary of Belarus' Security Council Alexander Volfovich said that “Kiev is striving to provoke a regional conflict by any means. An example of this is the recent incident with the destruction of the Ukrainian S-300 missile.”

“There is little reason to believe that it entered our airspace by accident. By all appearances, it seems some plan was being realized here,” he said.

The scathing remarks came after Belarus' defense ministry said on Thursday that its air defense forces had shot down a Ukrainian S-300 surface-to-air missile near the village of Harbacha in the Brest region, near the Belarus-Ukraine border.

“Parts of the missile found in an agricultural field belong to an S-300 guided missile fired from Ukrainian territory,” the ministry said.

Accordingly, the foreign ministry in Minsk summoned the Ukrainian ambassador on Thursday to express a formal protest about the “extremely serious” incident.

However, Ukraine's defense ministry laid the responsibility on the Russian door and claimed that it was a Russian provocation, in which Kiev reserved the right to protect its own skies.

MG