A note of protest was handed today by the Belarusian Foreign Ministry to Ukrainian Ambassador Ihor Kizim and - the Belarusian Ministry of Defense to Ukrainian military attache Colonel Siarhei Katsiuba in connection with accusations of illegal crossing of the border between the two countries by an unmanned aerial vehicle.
According to the Belarus Ministry of Defense, the drone was launched at 10:58 am on January 24 near the village Pischa, Kovel district, Volyn region, 1.7 km from the border with Belarus.
"After gaining working altitude, it crossed the state border of the Republic of Belarus near the village of Khmelishche, Malorit district. Then, in accordance with the flight task, it proceeded to the area of deployment of the Brest firing range," reports the Ministry of Defense.
Further, according to the Ministry of Defense, the drone was forced to land, and all the data on the flight were found out during the analysis of the equipment of the aircraft.
"It was brought to the attention of the Ukrainian party that by these unfriendly steps it deliberately provokes escalation of the situation in the region, which does not contribute to civilized bilateral dialogue. The Belarusian side demanded to prevent such destructive actions in the future," reported the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.
Ukraine categorically denies the launch of the drone on the territory of Belarus.
"This is another provocation of the Belarusian authorities. The mythical "tones of weapons" have been replaced by "drones." Ukraine did not use UAVs. We urge Minsk not to play along with Russia's destabilizing actions. Peace on the border between Belarus and Ukraine is in the interest of the entire region," Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko tweeted.
Yet another provocation by Belarus. We categorically reject accusations that Ukraine used a UAV on its border with Belarus. We call on Minsk to refrain from playing along with Russia's destabilising activities. Calm on Ukraine-Belarus border is in the interest of the whole region
— Oleg Nikolenko (@OlegNikolenko_) February 3, 2022
According to the State Border Service, the tons of weapons mentioned by the representative of the Foreign Ministry were mentioned in the report of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.
"We remember well the smuggling of weapons from Ukraine, which was delivered to Belarus "by tons. And this happened, according to Lukashenko, with regular frequency. Then there was a "tightly closed" border. Now they have invented the mythical "drones," as press-speaker of the State Border Guard Service Andrech Demchenko was quoted by the Ukrainian Pravda.
Besides, as the representative of the State Border Control Service of Ukraine notes, last year Belarus stated that there were allegedly Ukrainian UAVs flying along its territory, however the Ukrainian party did not launch the UAVs at that time.
"The most important thing for Belarus here is not to blame themselves. After all, one should take into account the joint military exercises of the Russian Federation, which were announced and take place on the territory of Belarus. Perhaps, they were watching their own," Demchenko added.
