Lukashenko: Belarusian air defense shoots down Ukrainian drones

The dictator said this during a meeting in the Mogilev region, as reported by the Belarusian state news agency BELTA and Lukashenko's press service Telegram channel.

"Yesterday at 6:10 p.m., the Belarusian Air Force and Air Defense Forces were put on high alert. We call it readiness number one. Air defense forces are on duty. The Armed Forces of Ukraine have violated any rules of conduct and violated the airspace of the Republic of Belarus. In the eastern direction, very close to us in the Kostyukovichi district. Therefore, air defense forces were put on full combat alert to intercept the targets. There were about a dozen of them. Airplanes and a helicopter took off. And MLRS were also put on high alert," the Belarusian leader said.

"At 7:4 p.m., at an altitude of one and a half kilometers and a range of 6.5 kilometers, the air defense forces destroyed several targets over the territory of Belarus. At night and this morning, we are searching for what was destroyed. We suspect that these are attack drones," he added.

At the same time, Lukashenko said, Belarusian air defense allegedly failed to shoot down all the targets.

"They were flying from Ukraine, violating the airspace of Belarus. We destroyed the targets over the territory of Belarus. The rest was handed over (we have a single air defense system with Russia), it was handed over to the Russian Federation," the so-called president of the Republic of Belarus said.

"Any provocations will not remain unanswered!" he summarized.

Where were the UAVs about which Lukashenko speaks moving?

The dictator also described the route of these air targets.

"According to the Russian General Staff and the commander of this area of Russian air defense, these targets were hit near Yaroslavl. The first direction was Smolensk. But then they changed their flight path - the ones that remained over Russia headed to the Yaroslavl area. But they were intercepted by Russian air defense systems and destroyed," BELTA quoted the Belarusian leader as saying.

"I don't understand why Ukraine needs this," Lukashenko summarized.

• In fact, this is his first statement since the beginning of the Ukrainian operation in Russia's Kursk region.