Ukraine asks Belarus to withdraw 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, especially Special Operations Forces, weapons and military equipment in the Gomel region, near the northern border of Ukraine.

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

In the event of a violation of Ukraine's state border by Belarus, the country will use all necessary measures to exercise the right to self-defense guaranteed by the UN Charter, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.

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

On August 9, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that about 10 Ukrainian attack drones had violated the border with Belarus. Some targets were shot down, the remaining UAVs were “handed over” to escort Russia because the two countries have a common air defense system.

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

The Belarusian leader called this a provocation, noting that it would be met with a response. Belarusian Security Council Secretary Alexander Volfovich said that Minsk in August had identified six cases of reconnaissance by quadcopters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the territory of Belarus. In this regard, President Lukashenko gave instructions to strengthen the troop buildup in the Gomel and Mozyr tactical directions in the south of the country, which border Ukraine.