MINSK, June 15. /TASS/. Belarusian border guards shot down a Ukrainian combat drone in the Gomel Region in late May, the Belarusian State Border Committee said in a statement.
"The incident took place at the end of last month. Border patrol members heard the sound of an unmanned aerial vehicle’s engine. Subsequently, a drone coming from Ukraine was detected in the sky heading towards the interior of Belarus. The border patrol personnel discharged their standard weapons, which triggered the detonation of an element attached to the drone," the statement reads.
"An expert assessment by explosives technicians showed that a bullet caused the detonation of an explosive device (munition) secured on board the remotely controlled aerial vehicle," the State Border Committee said.
In early February, Belarusian border guards intercepted a Ukrainian reconnaissance drone near the country’s border in the Brest Region. The State Border Committee occasionally reported similar incidents last fall and early last winter. The border service said in mid-January that 463 drone flights had been recorded along the Belarusian border since the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.
A decree on safeguarding the republic’s borders in 2023, approved by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in January, prioritizes protecting the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. According to the State Border Committee, as of the beginning of the year, Ukraine had amassed 17,200 military personnel along the Belarusian border. Kiev also continues to create engineering fortifications, including minefields. Ukraine regularly stages acts of provocation on the border, with weapons being used in some cases. In 2022, there were 88 such incidents. In response, Belarus reinforced border patrols, actively using technical protective devices and forming rapid-reaction groups equipped with armored vehicles and artillery. The State Border Committee earlier announced plans to increase the number of forces engaged in protecting the country’s 1,084-kilometer-long border with Ukraine.