Belarus Security Council Secretary Oleksandr Volfovich on Friday accused Ukraine of trying to “provoke a regional conflict,” saying it was “unlikely” that the Ukrainian air defense missile shot down on Thursday accidentally entered Belarusian airspace, The Guardian and News.ro reported. .

“There is little reason to believe that he accidentally entered our airspace. Judging by everything, it seems that there was some kind of plan,” Volfovich said in an interview with Sputnik Belarus.

The Ministry of Defense in Minsk said on Thursday that its air defense forces had shot down a Ukrainian S-300 surface-to-air missile near the village of Harbatseya in Brest Oblast, about 15 km from the Belarusian-Ukrainian border.

The incident occurred when Russia fired dozens of missiles at some Ukrainian cities, during one of the largest waves of bombing since the beginning of the conflict.

The incident “causes extreme concern not only for us, but also for our Belarusian partners,” Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov commented on Friday.

He emphasized the close military ties between Russia and Belarus, saying that the two states are in “constant dialogue and constant coordination.”

On Thursday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus summoned the Ambassador of Ukraine, Ihor Kizym, to whom it sent a strong protest against the alleged “launch of an anti-aircraft guided missile S-300 from the territory of Ukraine in the direction of the territory of Belarus.”

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The S-300 is a Soviet air defense missile used by both Russia and Ukraine.

In November, a S-300 missile, believed to have been launched by Ukrainian air defense, crashed in Poland, killing two people. Also, rockets or fragments of rockets fell on the territory of Moldova twice, the last time at the beginning of this month, but without casualties.

Kyiv has used an air defense system to intercept Russian missiles, and Russia appears to be using upgraded S-300 missiles to attack ground targets, which military analysts say could be a sign that its missile stockpile is dwindling.

Belarus allowed Moscow to use its territory as a launching pad for its February invasion of Ukraine, but insists it is not involved in the war and will not be involved.

For its part, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine does not rule out that the S-300 missile, which arrived on the territory of Belarus on Thursday, was deliberately sent by Russia to try to provoke Minsk in order to force Oleksandr Lukashenko to agree to receive it. participated together with Moscow in the war in Ukraine.

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