Belarus claims it shot down a Ukrainian missile on its territory

• Tension Post-Soviet partners move away from Putin

Belarus, an ally of Moscow, claimed on Thursday it had shot down

on its territory, hours after the announcement of "massive" attacks by Russia in Ukraine.

This Thursday is the first incident of this type reported by Minsk since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine more than 10 months ago, and in which Belarus serves as a

.

Always according to the Belarusian version, the missile was shot down in the morning by Belarusian anti-aircraft defense systems near the town of Gorbaja, in the

(southwest), bordering Ukraine, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry immediately summoned the Ukrainian ambassador to express its firm protest.

"It has been preliminarily established that the remains belong to an S-300 anti-aircraft missile launched from Ukrainian territory," the statement said.

According to the Defense Ministry, President Alexander Lukashenko was "immediately" informed of the incident.

A Telegram account close to the authorities, taken up by the state agency Belta, released images of missile fragments in a field.

The authorities

.

In November, a missile strike in a Polish town killed two people and raised fears that NATO would be drawn into the Ukraine conflict, as Poland belongs to the Atlantic Alliance.

Ukraine accused Russia, but Western powers and Moscow pointed out that the missile in question was a projectile from a Ukrainian air defense system, which went off course.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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• Ukraine

• Ministry of Defence

• belarus

• Russia

• NATO

• Poland

• Telegram

• Alexander Lukashenko