Belarus’ defense ministry said it shot down a Ukrainian S-300 missile that landed in Belarussian territory Thursday, later assuring the population the incident was no cause for alarm, according to multiple reports.
Authorities were investigating the incident after a preliminary evaluation found the missile, which crashed in a field in Brest roughly 9 miles from the Ukrainian border at around 10 a.m. local time, originated from Ukrainian territory, according to official BelTA news agency. The event occurred during one of Russia’s largest missile barrages across Ukraine since the beginning of the war, Reuters reported.
Oleg Konovalov, military commissar of the Brest region, said Belarussians had “absolutely nothing to worry about” in a statement on social media, Reuters reported. “Unfortunately, these things happen.”
Konovalov referenced an incident earlier this fall, when a Ukrainian air defense system allegedly misfired, sending a stray missile crashing down in Poland and killing three people. Poland, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) mutual defense alliance, urged a cautious response to prevent further escalation.
No casualties from the incident have been reported, BelTA reported.
“Fragments were found in an agricultural field … During the verification process, it was established that the wreckage belongs to an S-300 anti-aircraft guided missile fired from the territory of Ukraine,” the ministry said in a statement, according to Reuters.
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