(Reuters) – Belarus protested to Ukraine’s ambassador on Thursday after it said it had shot down a Ukrainian S-300 air defense missile in a field during one of Russia’s deadliest air strikes on Ukraine since the start of the war.
The military commissar of the Brest region, Oleg Konovalov, downplayed the incident in a video released on social media by the state-run Belta news agency, saying that local residents “have absolutely nothing to worry about. Unfortunately, these things happen.”
He compared the incident to one in November, when it fell on the territory of NATO member Poland, an S-300 believed to have strayed after being launched by Ukrainian air defences, sparking fears of an escalation that was quickly defused.
However, the Ukrainian ambassador was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Minsk to receive an official protest.
“The Belarusian side regards this incident as very serious,” said Belarusian spokesman Anatoly Glaz.
“We called on the Ukrainian side to conduct a thorough investigation, hold those responsible accountable, and take comprehensive measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future,” he added.
A Ukrainian military spokesman did in fact acknowledge that the missile was a Ukrainian stray, saying that the incident was “not strange, a result of air defence” and something that “has happened more than once”.
The S-300 is a Soviet-era air defense system in use by both Russia and Ukraine.
Belarus said the missile landed near the village of Harpasha in the Brest region, about 15 km from the border with Ukraine, at around 10 a.m. (0700 GMT).
“Shrapnel was found in an agricultural field,” the defense ministry said. “The wreckage belonged to an S-300 anti-aircraft guided missile launched from the territory of Ukraine.”
The incident occurred as Russia launched its latest wave of missile attacks on cities across Ukraine.
Belta posted photos and videos of what it said were parts of an S-300 missile lying in an empty field.
Belarus allowed Moscow to use its territory in February as a staging ground for an invasion of Ukraine, and there has been a growing wave of Russian and Belarusian military activity in Belarus in recent months.
However, Minsk insisted that it would not participate in the war, and would not participate unless its security was threatened by Ukraine or Ukraine’s Western allies.
While Kyiv used the S-300 to intercept incoming Russian missiles, Russia appeared to be using repurposed S-300s to attack ground targets.
Reporting by Reuters. Written by Jake Cordell. Editing by Kevin Levy and Emilia Sithole Matares
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