MINSK, December 2. /TASS/. Belarusian border guards have shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle intruding into the republic’s airspace from Ukrainian territory, the press office of the Belarusian State Border Guard Committee reported on Friday.

"Another drone was downed on the border with Ukraine. Yesterday, on December 1, Belarusian border guards, in conjunction with the military, spotted a quadcopter 1,200 meters from the Belarussian-Ukrainian border above the Mokrany checkpoint soaring at an altitude of 300 meters and heading for the territory of the Republic of Belarus from the Ukrainian side. The drone was downed with the use of a radio-electronic weapon," the statement reads.

The Belarusian State Border Guard Committee noted that "the quadcopter bore no insignia and was outfitted with a video camera and was used for conducting reconnaissance and surveying technical border protection facilities on the territory of Belarus."

On November 16, the Belarusian State Border Guard Committee reported that Belarusian border guards shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle intruding into the republic’s airspace from Ukrainian territory. The UAV was downed over the Brest Region by an on-duty border guard squad using a Kalashnikov automatic rifle.

On November 2, Belarusian border guards intercepted and forcibly grounded a Ukrainian quadcopter in the Gomel district 1 km from the Belarus-Ukraine border that was being used to practice dropping explosives, the republic’s Border Guard Committee said.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko earlier said that the republic possessed the necessary weapons to protect the border with Ukraine from drones and other aerial targets. He said that Ukraine had moved a 15,000-strong battlegroup to the border with Belarus.