Belarus boosts troops at border, summons diplomat

11/8/2024 7:19

        Belarus sent more troops to reinforce its border with Ukraine on Saturday, saying Ukrainian drones had violated its airspace in the course of Kyiv’s military incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.
        
        Belarus’ Foreign Ministry summoned Ukraine’s charge d’affaires, demanded measures to ensure such incidents would not recur and suggested a repeat would prompt Belarus to consider whether Kyiv’s diplomatic presence in Minsk was “appropriate”.
        
        President Alexander Lukashenko, addressing a meeting in eastern Belarus, said air defence forces on Friday destroyed several of “about a dozen” Ukrainian drones after they violated Belarusian airspace in the Mogilev region bordering Russia.
        
        Lukashenko, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies, said others were later destroyed near the Russian city of Yaroslavl.