Ukrainian ambassador summoned to Belarus foreign ministry to receive formal protest

Belarus has summoned Ukraine’s ambassador after its military downed a Ukrainian S-300 missile that crashed into a farming land near the village of Harbacha in the southwestern region of the country.

"Fragments were found in an agricultural field ... the wreckage belongs to an S-300 anti-aircraft guided missile fired from the territory of Ukraine" into the Brest Oblast some 15km from the border with Ukraine at around 10 a.m. (0700 GMT), the Belarus defense ministry said on Thursday.

Brest's military commissar, Oleg Konovalov, said the missile had strayed, likening it to another Ukrainian missile incident that happened in Poland last month.

In November, Konovalov said, a similar incident to this one happened in Poland when an S-300 went astray after being fired by Ukrainian air defenses and landed on the territory of NATO member Poland, triggering fears of an escalation that were rapidly defused.

“Unfortunately, these things happen,” the official said.

Nevertheless, the Belarusian foreign ministry conveyed Minsk's formal protest to the Ukrainian envoy, urging Kiev to hold those responsible to account.

“The Belarusian side views this incident as extremely serious,” Anatoly Glaz, a spokesman for the ministry, said.

“We demanded that the Ukrainian side conduct a thorough investigation … [and] hold those responsible to account and take comprehensive measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future.”

Belarus reportedly allowed Russia's military to use its territory in late February at the start of Moscow's military campaign in eastern Ukraine, and there has been a flurry of Russian and Belarusian forces activity in Belarus in recent months.

NATO says preliminary analysis shows Polish blast caused by Ukrainian missile

NATO says the missile that hit Poland recently had likely been fired by the Ukrainian military.

However, Minsk has maintained its neutrality in the conflict, insisting that there is no participation in the fighting on its part, and that there will be no future participation unless its own security is threatened by Ukraine or Ukraine's Western allies.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's defense ministry said it would allow military experts from neutral countries to investigate the incident, which it said resulted from efforts to repulse a major airstrike conducted by Russian forces. "The Ukrainian side, reserving the unconditional right to the defense and protection of its own sky, at the same time is ready to conduct an objective investigation in Ukraine," the ministry said in a statement.

Kiev said it did not rule out a "deliberate provocation" in which Russia launched its cruise missiles on a path where they would be intercepted over Belarusian territory.

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