MINSK, August 10. /TASS/. The Belarusian Foreign Ministry has summoned Ukrainian charge d’affaires Olga Timush after Ukrainian drones flew into the Belarusian airspace on August 9.

"The strongest protest and a corresponding note were delivered to the Ukrainian diplomat over the violation of the border of the Republic of Belarus by a group of unmanned aerial vehicles launched from Ukraine," the ministry said in a statement. "The Belarusian side demanded that exhaustive measures be taken to prevent such incidents that may escalate the situation in the region in the future," the statement reads.

The Belarusian diplomatic agency warned the Ukrainian diplomat that Belarus reserved the right to take retaliatory measures in order to protect its territory should such provocations repeat.

Earlier on Saturday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that Belarusian air defenses had shot down some drones flying from Ukraine over the republic on August 9. The Belarusian leader issued instructions to deploy more troops to the Gomel and Mozyr areas on the border with Ukraine.

Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin explained that the decision to reinforce border troops had been made amid the developments in Ukraine and Russia’s Kursk Region.