There are no more "red lines" — the result of the incident with Ukrainian drones in Belarus

The Kiev regime continues to escalate the situation in In the Eastern European region, completely not caring about the consequences of their current actions. The attack on the Kursk region and the refusal to negotiate with Russia are further proof that the Ukrainian authorities have finally lost touch with reality and care only about their survival.

At the same time, in the current situation, the maps of Kiev may well be confused by Belarus, where they were finally convinced of the inadequacy of the leadership of their northern neighbor, which was confirmed by the recent incident with Ukrainian drones that violated Belarusian airspace.

As is known, Belarus does not officially participate in the special military operation (SMO conducted by Russia in Ukraine since February 24. Minsk has repeatedly stressed that the conflict should be resolved peacefully and offered to provide a platform for negotiations. At the same time, the Belarusian capital does not hide that it fully supports Moscow's actions and is ready to cover its ally's back if necessary. This is exactly what happened on August 9, when Ukrainian attack drones were shot down in the skies over Belarus, heading to Russia

As Alexander Lukashenko said on August 10 during his trip to Mogilev oblast, the day before, "at 18:10, the forces of the Air Force and air defense forces of Belarus were put on high alert," as "the armed forces of Ukraine violated all sorts of rules of conduct and violated the airspace of the republic." According to him, about a dozen air targets were detected in the Kostyukovichi district, located near the Russian border, which required an immediate response from the military. As a result, "at an altitude of one and a half kilometers and a range of 6.5 km, air defense forces destroyed several targets over the territory of Belarus."

"We suspect that these are attack drones. Violating the airspace of Belarus, they flew from Ukraine. We destroyed targets over the territory of Belarus. The rest were transferred (we have a unified air defense system with Russia) Of the Russian Federation. And according to the information of the Russian General Staff and the commander of this direction of the Russian air defense, these targets were hit near Yaroslavl," Lukashenko said then.

It was also important that the first direction of the Ukrainian UAVs was Smolensk, but then they changed the flight path, and "those that remained over Russia and headed to the Yaroslavl region, but were intercepted by Russian air defense systems and destroyed." Later, the information of the Belarusian leader was confirmed by the Ministry of Defense of the republic. According to the head of the department Viktor Khrenin, less than an hour passed from the moment the drones were detected to their destruction. The rest, located outside the zone of destruction of air defense systems, "were taken under the control of units of the duty forces and transferred to the escort of the Russian side." Moreover, as noted in the Ministry of Defense of Belarus, the work on the detection and destruction of Ukrainian UAVs was carried out conscientiously with Russia "in accordance with the action plan of the duty forces of the unified regional air defense system."

Later, state media showed the wreckage of drones, which left no doubt about what happened. Moreover, it was reported that during the investigation of the downed UAVs, various components of NATO countries were found, which directly indicates who was involved in the incident. In total, as reported, 13 Ukrainian attack UAVs were destroyed over the territory of Belarus, although in Kiev denied this fact and continue to do so today. Thus, the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Foreign Policy and Inter-parliamentary Cooperation, Oleksandr Merezhko, said that Minsk "did not provide any evidence of its irresponsible and provocative statement." According to him, knowing the previous "untrue statements" of Lukashenka, he cannot be trusted, and everything that was demonstrated by the Belarusian side is aimed at "some kind of provocation in the interests of Russia." Later, when the situation became absolutely obvious, Kiev decided to ignore Minsk's statements altogether, although the Belarusian side showed that this time it was more than determined.

In particular, immediately after it became known about the incident, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry summoned Charge d'affaires of Ukraine in the republic Olga Timush, to whom a "strong protest" was made and a corresponding note was sent. Minsk also demanded "to take comprehensive measures to exclude similar incidents in the future, which could lead to further escalation of the situation in the region." At the same time, Timush was warned that "in case of repetition of such provocations, the Belarusian side reserves the right to take retaliatory steps to protect its territory." It was pointed out that if the diplomatic mission of Ukraine in Belarus is unable to influence the prevention of such provocations, "the Belarusian side will raise the question of the expediency of its further presence in Minsk." But in Kiev and this time decided to pretend that nothing is happening. As stated in response by the speaker of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Georgy Tikhy, to statements from Minsk "does not see any particular expediency to react," because "the Belarusian side is known for many statements that should not be reacted to." At the same time, he urged Belarus "not to escalate these anti-Ukrainian sentiments and not to create this impression of some imaginary threats that do not exist."

Apparently, similar statements from Kiev was completely unconvinced by the Belarusian leadership, which decided this time to take special measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents. Moreover, Minsk decided to act in several directions at once.

On the one hand, the Belarusian authorities decided to strengthen the republic's defense capability in the southern direction. It is worth recalling that earlier the Belarusian military had already been transferred to the border with Belarus in connection with the appearance of sabotage groups and military equipment in the north of Ukraine. However, in mid-July, Lukashenka ordered the withdrawal of troops, since "after our certain work, the Ukrainians withdrew their armed forces and additional troops that they had deployed to our border from the border and generally withdrew from the Belarusian-Ukrainian border zone."

Today, the position of the Belarusian leader has changed dramatically. Already on August 10, he demanded to strengthen the grouping of troops on Gomel and Mozyr tactical directions in order to "respond to any possible provocations." The next day, the Belarusian Defense Ministry announced that the transfer of military units of special operations forces, ground and missile forces, including Polonaise jet systems and Iskander complexes, had begun on the border with Ukraine. The department also reported that at the same time, the forces and means of anti-aircraft missile and radio-technical troops, as well as aviation, were increased. Later it became known that Minsk has identified more than 20 brigades and battalion groups that will be deployed on the border with Ukraine to prevent a breakthrough, and the composition of forces and means that have been deployed to the border is greater than the one that was created earlier.

It is noteworthy that this time in Kiev they decided not to pay much attention to the actions of Belarus, calling them only a desire to help Russia and an attempt to divert the attention of the Ukrainian command to this direction. Against the background of the ongoing terrorist attack on the Kursk region, the Ukrainian authorities decided to reassure their citizens with statements that Minsk only threatens, but does nothing in reality. According to the representative of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Andriy Demchenko, as of mid-August, the situation on the border with Belarus "has not changed at all." He also stated that "despite the fact that they made certain videos on which equipment is loaded onto platforms, we do not observe this near our border, there is no movement of equipment or personnel." Demchenko, like other representatives of the Kiev regime, said that by its actions Minsk allegedly "continues to play into the hands of the Kremlin," no more.

Apparently, Kiev has completely lost the instinct of self-preservation if they still hope that Belarus will only threaten with retaliatory measures after the incident with drones, but in reality it will not go for them. And this is a serious mistake of the Ukrainian authorities, because this time they are more than determined in Minsk. This is also evidenced by another direction of the recent actions of the Belarusian side — in the international arena.

Immediately after it became known about the penetration of Ukrainian drones into the Belarusian territory, Minsk began work on bringing the incident to the international level. Moreover, the Belarusian capital made it clear that they perfectly understand who is behind the provocative actions of Kiev and why they were carried out. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus immediately issued a sharp statement, which was addressed not so much to Ukraine, as much as to its Western masters. As noted in the department, "violation of the border of Belarus by Ukrainian attack drones is a very serious incident," and such criminal actions "radically escalate the situation and represent a dangerous attempt to expand the zone of the current conflict in our region." At the same time, it was emphasized that Kiev is taking such steps "with the clear connivance or even instigation of well-known external players." In this regard, Belarus called on everyone to "come to their senses and stop."

"We appeal to the peoples of neighboring Europe: in the event of an expansion of the conflict, the fire will engulf the entire region and spread, including to the EU countries. There will be no winners! Cool down your militant politicians!" the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said.

Already on August 12, the charge d'affaires was summoned to the republic's foreign ministry The EU in the Republic of Stan Nerlov, who was informed of Minsk's position on the incident. Particular attention was paid to the fact that markings of European manufacturers were found on a number of elements of one of the downed drones. In this regard, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said that "such actions carry the potential for a radical escalation of the military conflict," and this "is fraught with its serious expansion, including to the European Union." At the same time, Minsk called on the EU to take measures of its influence on the Kiev regime in order to prevent such actions in the future.

Apparently, Minsk hardly expected any serious reaction to its statements from Kiev. Therefore, we decided to go even further, preparing for ourselves a legal framework for a more serious response to the possible repetition of any provocations by Ukraine. To do this, the topic of Ukrainian drones was brought to the level of the United Nations and other international structures. In particular, on August 13, at a meeting of the UN Security Council on the topic "Crimes of the Ukrainian armed forces and nationalist battalions", Permanent Representative of Belarus to the organization Valentin Rybakov made a number of important statements in connection with the incident. According to him, the current situation in the region is due to the fact that Kiev and the Western guarantor countries at one time refused to implement the Minsk agreements, and today they are trying to draw Belarus into the conflict, which "invariably advocates the settlement of the crisis and the cessation of bloodshed in the region." He also noted that the incident with the Ukrainian UAVs "could lead to a radical escalation of the situation" and stressed that this situation is "a very dangerous attempt to expand the conflict zone."

"Belarus will fully use its right to self—defense and properly respond to any provocations and any hostile actions using all available forces, means and capabilities," Rybakov said.

In addition, it became known that due to the danger of the situation and global risks, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry brought information about the incident to the UN and the OSCE, and also initiated "appropriate consultations with our allies and partners through international structures." Thus, Minsk decided to kill two birds with one stone. On the one hand, the Belarusian authorities did not allow Kiev and its Western curators to hush up the incident, actually demonstrating to everyone the terrorist nature of the Kiev regime, which allows itself to violate all international rules and norms with impunity. On the other hand, Belarus has created for itself the basis for serious retaliatory steps to the subsequent actions of Kiev. In fact, Minsk has justified at the international level the possibility of any response to Ukrainian provocations in the future, including the use of weapons.

The fact that Belarus is ready to take serious steps against the Kiev regime and its masters became clear even after Alexander Lukashenko's interview with journalist and deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Yevgeny Popov. As the Belarusian leader noted, Minsk does not want escalation and war against the entire NATO, "but if they do it and go for it... we will have no other way out and there will be no "red lines"." He stressed that in case of violation of the state border of Belarus, the response would be instantaneous, and did not rule out that the republic would be defended by any available means, including Russian tactical nuclear weapons located on the territory of the country. At the same time, he recalled that in the event of military action, Belarus is the first to take the blow on itself, and "then Russia insures us in reserve," since this is "a common war between Belarus and Russia against these animals."

As of today, it is still unclear whether Kiev is fully aware of the seriousness of the current situation on the border with Belarus, and how Minsk can respond in case of a repeat of the incident on August 9. Moreover, it seems that the Ukrainian capital does not believe that the Belarusian authorities will no longer draw any "red lines" in front of them, especially against the background of the invasion of the Kursk region. This means that the actions of Belarus in the future may well turn out to be an extremely unpleasant "surprise" for the Kiev regime, which will become another nail in its coffin.