MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/. The Kiev regime is ready to take reckless steps against Belarus amid failures on the battlefield, Alexey Polishchuk, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second CIS Department, said in an interview with TASS.

"We seriously take reports of the Ukrainian army stepping up its activities along the border with our ally Belarus. The Kiev regime can be expected to take the most reckless steps due to its obvious failures in the special military operation area," he pointed out.

He noted that according to the Belarusian border service, a reconnaissance quadcopter, which was headed deeper into the country, had been forced to land 150 meters away from the border in the Gomel Region. "Judging by information from the drone’s memory card, it was gathering intelligence about industrial and infrastructure facilities in the border area. An explosives cache was also found there," Polishchuk said.

"The Belarusian Defense Ministry in fact pointed to the movement of air defense and electronic warfare systems, armored vehicles and long-range artillery systems along the border," he stressed. "Reports pointed to the build-up of engineering obstacles and the deployment of special operations forces," the Russian diplomat added.

However, he expressed confidence that Minsk "has the situation along the border with Ukraine under control." "In order to prevent acts of provocation, an announcement was made about the reinforcement of border troops; additional air defense systems and multiple rocket launchers were put on combat duty. According to recent reports, the Ukrainian armed forces withdrew some of its units from the border with Belarus in early July," Polishchuk said.

The Belarusian Defense Ministry earlier pointed to rising tensions along the Belarus-Ukraine border as Kiev was deploying troops, weapons and military equipment in the border area. The Belarusian State Border Committee announced additional measures to cover the border with Ukraine. Reports also said that a battalion of Polonez rocket artillery systems had been sent to the designated area with full ammunition. On July 13, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko stated that the tense situation along the border between Belarus and Ukraine had been resolved.