Ukraine demands Belarus withdraw its troops from the border.

According to RIA Novosti, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, in a statement posted on its website, called on Belarus to withdraw its troops from the border.

According to the ministry, citing intelligence information, Minsk “is concentrating a significant number of personnel, particularly Special Operations Forces, weapons and military equipment in the Gomel region, near the northern border of Ukraine.”

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry assured that Kyiv would not take any unfriendly actions, while calling on its neighbor to withdraw its troops from the border “to a distance beyond the range of Belarus’s existing artillery systems.”

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stated that, in the event of Belarus violating Ukraine's national border, Ukraine will use all necessary measures to exercise its right to self-defense as guaranteed by the UN Charter.

Furthermore, the statement emphasized: "All troop concentrations, military facilities, and supply routes in Belarus will become legitimate targets of the Ukrainian armed forces."

On August 9th, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko stated that approximately 10 Ukrainian attack drones had violated the border with Belarus. Some targets were shot down, while the remaining drones were "handed over" to Russia for escort duties, as the two countries share a common air defense system.

President Lukashenko added that, according to the Russian military, the remaining drones had been destroyed in the Yaroslavl region.

The Belarusian leader called this a provocation, noting that it would be met with retaliation. Belarusian Security Council Foreign Minister Alexander Volfovich stated that Minsk had identified six instances in August of Ukrainian Armed Forces quadcopters conducting reconnaissance on Belarusian territory. In response, President Lukashenko issued directives to increase troop concentrations along the Gomel and Mozyr tactical directions in the south of the country, bordering Ukraine.