On Thursday, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry summoned Ukrainian Ambassador Igor Kizim after the Belarusian Air Defence Forces shot down a stray S-300 anti-aircraft missile in the Gorbakha village, Brest region.
The Belarusian Ministry said that its air defence system shot down an “air target” at 10 a.m. local time, and its fragments were found in an agricultural field near Gorbakha village in Ivanovo district, which is 15 kilometres from the Ukrainian border. “During the verification activities, it was preliminarily established that the wreckage belonged to an S-300 anti-aircraft guided missile fired from the territory of Ukraine,” the ministry claimed.
Anatoly #Glaz: We demanded that Ukraine conduct a thorough investigation, hold those responsible to account & take comprehensive measures to prevent 🚫 the recurrence of such incidents in the future, as they can lead to catastrophic consequences for ❗️ everyone pic.twitter.com/3awZ4MQ6Vm
— Belarus MFA 🇧🇾 (@BelarusMFA) December 29, 2022
In response, a Ukrainian military spokesman admitted that the missile was a Ukrainian stray, calling the incident “nothing strange, a result of air defence,” and something that “has happened more than once.”
Similarly, Oleg Konovalov, a military official of the Brest region, downplayed the incident in a video, claiming that locals had “absolutely nothing to worry about. Unfortunately, these things happen.” He further compared it to a similar incident in Poland last month, after a missile strike at a grain silo in Przewodów, which is six kilometres from the Ukraine border, killed two farm workers. It was later determined that Ukraine had tried to intercept a Russian missile, which, in turn, led to the tragic strike.
A committee of investigators are working in #Brest, at the crash site where a Ukrainian S-300 was discovered in #Belarus.
— Gurbaksh Singh Chahal (@gchahal) December 29, 2022
However, Belarusian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anatoly Glaz said, “The Belarussian side views this incident as extremely serious.” “We demanded that Ukraine conduct a thorough investigation, hold those responsible to account and take comprehensive measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future, as they can lead to catastrophic consequences for everyone,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry agreed to invite “reputable experts” from countries that do not support “the terrorist state of Russia” to conduct an “objective investigation.” It noted that the instance was a result of Ukrainian forces defending against Russia’s “barbaric” missile attack that struck civilian targets on Thursday.
The Ministry further remarked that it was “aware of the Kremlin’s desperate and persistent efforts to drag Belarus into its aggressive war against Ukraine.” “In this regard, the Ukrainian side does not rule out a deliberate provocation on the part of the terrorist state of Russia, which laid such a route for its cruise missiles to provoke their interception in the airspace over the territory of Belarus,” it affirmed.
Ukraine's S-300 missile interception spilt over to Belarus today
— Samuel Ramani (@SamRamani2) December 30, 2022
Belarus's reaction underscores why they are unlikely to fight on Russia's behalf. They called for an investigation by Ukraine but did not highlight a security threat from Kyiv to Belarusian territory
The incident occurred against the backdrop of Russia reportedly trying to involve Belarus in the Ukraine war. In fact, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Belarus last week and conducted talks with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko. “Russia and Belarus are open to dialogue with other countries, including European countries. I hope that they will soon heed the voice of reason, and we will begin a constructive discussion of security for all and the future international order,” Lukashenko stated, while Putin acknowledged that Belarus was Russia’s “ally in the most direct sense of the word.”
Furthermore, the two leaders also met on the sidelines of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in St Petersburg on Tuesday, where the talks were mainly focussed on economy. Moreover, both countries’ militaries have been involved in “intensive combat training” since earlier this month. Though Lukashenko has previously remarked that Belarus will not get involved in the Ukraine war, he has allowed Russian troops to conduct attacks from Belarusian territory.