Politics Kiev: Russian drone flies into Belarus
According to Kiev's military, a Russian combat drone has flown over Ukraine into Belarus during an attack. Russia had attacked Ukraine with five Iranian-made Shahed drones, the Ukrainian air force announced. Four drones were shot down over the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions. "The fifth left Ukraine's airspace in the direction of the Gomel region in Belarus," wrote Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk on his Telegram channel.
13.07.2024, 11:12
SDA
The Belarusian military blog Hajun-Projekt, which is known to be reliable, confirmed the incident. According to the blog, the Russian drone had flown for around three hours over Belarus as far north as Vitebsk. Nothing is known about the end of the flight. The Belarusian military pursued the flying object with a fighter jet and a helicopter.
According to Hajun, a Russian Shahed drone coming from Ukraine had already flown into Belarusian airspace on Thursday evening. A jet and a helicopter had observed the flight. After about an hour, the drone flew back into Ukraine into the restricted area around the destroyed Chernobyl nuclear power plant. There was no information on this incident from the Ukrainian side. It was not mentioned in the Kiev Air Force report on Friday morning.
Moscow's closest ally
Belarus is Russia's closest ally. Ruler Alexander Lukashenko has made his country available as a deployment zone against Ukraine. However, as far as is known, Belarusian troops have not intervened in the war. Nevertheless, Kiev and Minsk are nervous, especially as a joint maneuver with Chinese soldiers is currently taking place in Belarus. Both sides accuse each other of preparing provocations.
During the night, a Ukrainian drone attack set fire to a fuel depot in the Zimlyansk district of the Rostov region in southern Russia. Governor Vasily Golubev later announced that the fire had been extinguished.
