MINSK, December 30. /TASS/. The Belarusian Defense Ministry is investigating whether a provocation by the Ukrainian armed forces could be the reason behind Thursday’s incident when the republic’s air defenses downed a Ukrainian S-300 missile above its territory, Colonel Kirill Kazantsev, who is in charge of the anti-aircraft missile forces, reported on Friday.

"Questions about the incident remain, and we are looking into two versions, one being a guided missile misfire due to the missile crew’s incompetence and the other a deliberate provocation by the Ukrainian armed forces," the Belarusian military official said in a video released by Belarus’ Defense Ministry.

A projectile launched from the S-300 air defense system from Ukrainian territory was downed by Belarusian air defenses as it breached the republic’s airspace on Thursday morning. Its fragments landed near the village of Gorbakha in the Ivanovo District of the Brest Region. Minsk demanded that Kiev conduct a thorough investigation into the incident, prosecute those responsible for it and take exhaustive measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future.