MINSK, August 12. /TASS/. The Belarusian air defenses shot down 13 drones flying from Ukraine over the Mogilyov Region on August 9, Colonel Andrey Bogodel, the deputy chief of the General Staff department of the Military Academy of Belarus, has said.

"The events that took place in our airspace - 13 drones that were shot down directly over Kostyukovichi - were an information message, an attempt to present Belarus in a very unsightly way. To show that Ukraine is unpunishable," he said in an interview with the BelTA news agency, posted on his YouTube channel.

Bogodel remarked that Ukraine had made a number of statements that "no drones flew over."

"They started claiming that allegedly the helicopter and the airplane returned to base with unused ammunition. But neither airplanes nor helicopters were used that way," the military official said.

"It was clearly stated by the Belarusian authorities: the air defense regiment used anti-aircraft missile systems. There were 13 armed drones and they were destroyed. The rest were monitored by our radio-technical troops and handed over to the Russian side, which then successfully destroyed them directly somewhere in the Yaroslavl and Smolensk regions," Bogodel said.

On August 10, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko mentioned the destruction of drones flying from Ukraine towards Russia over the country a day earlier. The Belarusian leader ordered to strengthen the groups of troops on the border with Ukraine in Gomel and Mozyr areas.