Belarus’ Ministry of Defence considers there to be two possible reasons for a Ukrainian missile to have fallen on the territory of the Brest region: either it was an accident or a provocation, the ministry reports
“We are considering two versions: an unintentional launch of a surface-to-air missile due to the lack of training [of personnel] or missile malfunctioning, or a purposeful provocation by Ukraine’s Armed Forces,” Kirill Kazantsev, chief of Belarus’ anti-aircraft missile troops, says.
Yesterday, 29 December, a Ukrainian S-300 missile hit the territory of Belarus, pro-government Belarusian outlet BelTa reported. The Belarusian Defence Ministry later commented on the matter, saying that the country’s air defence systems had taken down an S-300 missile launched from Ukraine’s territory. The fragments indeed dropped near Gorbakha, Brest region, the ministry clarified.
Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said in response that it was prepared to conduct an investigation of the incident.
“The Ukrainian side <…> is prepared to conduct, in Ukraine, an objective investigation of the incident which took place on 29 December in the Belarusian airspace following [Ukraine] repelling a massive missile strike by the Russian Federation. Ukraine is ready to invite authoritative experts from the countries that are not connected to supporting the terrorist state Russia in any form to participate in such an investigation.
