Belarus sent military reinforcements to its border with Ukraine Saturday after it said several Ukrainian drones crossed its airspace and were intercepted by the country\u2019s air defenses on Friday, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said in a statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe suspect these are attack drones,\u201d Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said during a separate briefing Saturday. He called the incident \u201ca provocation\u201d and said \u201cthe general staff of Belarus has been ordered to take relevant measures to ensure the security of the state.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cUkrainians show in this way that they are not ready for peace and continue to escalate this tension,\u201d Lukashenko said, speaking of the recent Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory. <\/p>\n
Khrenin told journalists \u201cconsidering the situation in Ukraine and in the Kursk region of Russia\u201d Lukashenko \u201chas ordered to strengthen the grouping of troops\u201d in the Gomel and Mozyr areas bordering Ukraine \u201cin order to respond\u201d to Ukrainian \u201cprovocations.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cMilitary units of special operations forces, ground troops and rocket forces, including \u2018Polonez\u2019 systems and \u2018Iskander\u2019 (ballistic missile) complexes, have been tasked with marching to the designated areas. Air defense, rocket defense and aviation forces and assets have been built-up,\u201d Khrenin said. <\/p>\n
On Saturday, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry summoned the Charge d\u2019Affaires of Ukraine and \u201clodged a strong protest\u201d in connection with the incident, the ministry said in a post on X. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ukrainian diplomat was warned that in case of repetition of such provocations #Belarus reserves the right to take retaliatory steps to protect its territory,\u201d the ministry said, adding it \u201cmay question the necessity of the continued presence of the #Ukrainian diplomatic mission in Minsk.\u201d <\/p>\n
The ministry blamed Ukraine for \u201ccriminal actions\u201d to \u201cradically escalate the situation and represent a dangerous attempt to expand the zone of the current conflict in our region.\u201d It asked the rest of Europe to not escalate the situation. <\/p>\n
Ukraine has not publicly commented on Belarus\u2019 accusations. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe appeal to the peoples of neighboring Europe: in the event of an expansion of the conflict, the fire will spread throughout the region, including to the EU countries. There will be no winners!\u201d the ministry said on X. <\/p>\n
Belarusian state media BelTA said Saturday the Foreign Ministry will initiate consultations with allies and partners, as well as international organizations following the incident. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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