The Ukrainian missile was taken down by air defence in Belarus during one of Russia’s most extensive missile attacks spanning several cities in Ukraine
The defence ministry of Belarus has said that the country´s air defences successfully shot down a Ukrainian S-300 missile on Thursday, December 29. According to a report by Reuters, the missile was taken down at the Brest border region at around 10 am local time.
Following the incident, Oleg Konovalov, military commissar of Belarus’s southwestern region of Brest stated that there is “absolutely nothing to worry about”, adding, “unfortunately, these things happen”.
Konovalov also said that this incident was similar to when another S-300 missile, believed to have strayed after being fired by Ukrainian air defences, landed on the territory of NATO-member Poland.
“This triggered fears of an escalation that were rapidly defused”, he said.
Meanwhile, the foreign ministry in Belarus has said that they view this incident as extremely serious.
A statement by Anatoly Glaz, a spokesman for the ministry said, “We demanded that the Ukrainian side conduct a thorough investigation and hold those responsible to account and take comprehensive measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future”.
Ukrainian military spokesperson also issued a statement regarding this incident and as per the report, acknowledged that the missile was from Ukraine and had strayed into the Belarussian territory. The spokesperson said that “the incident was nothing strange, a result of air defence and something that has happened more than once”.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article, do remember to come back and check out the EuroNews247 website for all your up-to-date European news stories.
