According to the press office of the Belarusian Ministry of Defense, which was reported by the media, Belarusian air defence troops were able to stop an S-300 anti-aircraft guided missile that was launched from Ukrainian territory.
A message on the department’s Telegram channel said, “At 10 a.m. today, an air target was hit by the air defence forces.”
Rocket parts were found near the village of Gorbakha, which is in the Ivanovo district of the Brest region. “During the first inspection, it was found that the debris came from an S-300 anti-aircraft guided missile that was fired from Ukraine,” the Belarusian Defense Ministry said.
Earlier, the BelTA news agency said that between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. local time, a Ukrainian S-300 anti-aircraft missile was seen on Belarusian soil. As soon as it was found out, Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Belarus, was told what was going on. According to the agency, there are two likely explanations for what happened: either the missile flew into Belarus in a way similar to what happened not long ago in Poland, or Belarus’s air defence system shot it down.
On November 15, a rocket hit the village of Przewodów in the Lublin Voivodeship, which is in eastern Poland close to the border with Ukraine. This killed two people. Polish President Andrzej Duda said that the Ukrainian air defence system made the missile that was shot down. This is what the Polish government thinks.
Investigators from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, and the Belarus Investigative Committee are at the scene. At the moment, there are no reports of anyone getting hurt.
According to Reuters, the missile fell during one of the most intense Russian missile attacks on Ukraine since the war began. At the time, between 10 and 11 a.m., Russia had already fired dozens of missiles at Ukraine.
BelTA said that the missile came from Ukraine and posted a picture of scattered S-300 missile parts in an agricultural field.
The S-300 is an old Soviet missile defence system that is used by both Russia and Ukraine. Last month, a missile that is thought to have come from the same system landed in Poland.
S-300 systems are used by Kiev to stop Russian missiles. At the same time, Russia is using modified S-300 missiles to hit targets on the ground. This is seen as a sign that Russia’s missile stockpile is getting smaller.
In February, Minsk let Russia use Belarusian land as a staging area for its invasion of Ukraine. However, Minsk says it is not involved in the conflict and has no plans to do so in the future.
