According to the press office of the Belarusian Ministry of Defense, which was reported by media sources, Belarusian air defence troops were successful in intercepting an S-300 anti-aircraft guided missile that was launched from Ukrainian territory.
“Around 10:00 a.m. today, an air target was hit by the air defence forces,” stated a message posted on the department’s Telegram channel.
Rocket wreckage was discovered in the vicinity of the village of Gorbakha, located in the Brest region’s Ivanovo district. “During the initial inspection, it was established that the debris is from an S-300 anti-aircraft guided missile fired from the territory of Ukraine,” the Belarusian Defense Ministry added.
Earlier, it was reported by the BelTA news agency that a Ukrainian S-300 anti-aircraft missile was spotted on Belarusian territory between the hours of 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. local time. Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Belarus, was briefed on the matter as soon as it was discovered. According to the agency, there are two probable reasons for what took place: either the missile flew into Belarus in a manner comparable to what took place not long ago in Poland, or the air defence system of Belarus brought it down.
Two persons were killed on November 15 when a rocket struck the village of Przewodów in the Lublin Voivodeship, located in eastern Poland near the border with Ukraine. Polish President Andrzej Duda stated that, based on the Polish authorities’ assessment, the downed missile belonged to the Ukrainian air defence system.
On the scene are investigators from the Belarus Investigative Committee, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Ministry of Defense. There are currently no reports of casualties.
The fall of the missile came during one of the heaviest Russian missile attacks against Ukraine since the start of the war, according to Reuters, and at the time it occurred, between 10 and 11 a.m., Russia had already fired dozens of missiles against Ukraine.
BelTA noted that the missile originated from Ukrainian territory and shared a photograph depicting scattered S-300 missile debris in an agricultural field.
The S-300 is a missile defence system from the Soviet era that Russia and Ukraine operate. A missile believed to have originated from the same system landed in Poland last month.
Kyiv employs S-300 systems to intercept Russian missiles. At the same time, Russia is using modified S-300 missiles to hit ground targets, which observers think indicates that Russia’s missile stockpile is diminishing.
Minsk permitted Russia to use Belarusian land as a staging area for its invasion of Ukraine in February, but it claims it is not participating in the conflict and has no plans to become involved in the future.
