On May 26 in Moscow, at a meeting of the Committee of Secretaries of the CSTO Security Councils, Belarusian Security Council Secretary Alexander Volfovich stated that, according to reports, air defense systems allegedly detect combat drones regularly crossing the Belarusian-Ukrainian border and “crashing on its territory,” as reported by the BELTA news agency.
“In some cases, these are not random attacks, but attempts to strike elements of border infrastructure under the guise of supposedly accidental incursions,” he claimed. “There were 116 such incidents in the last week alone. In response, on-duty forces were deployed 59 times.”
Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service spokesperson Andriy Demchenko, in comments to Ukrainska Pravda, called these statements “absurd” and said that this was “yet another attempt by Belarus to blame Ukraine for something and shift the blame.”
“I have a question: how long did they have to restrain themselves to keep quiet about such ‘provocations’ by Ukrainians?” Demchenko said. “And besides, their air defense system can apparently only detect Ukrainian assets, because for some reason they don’t detect anything flying into Ukraine from Belarus.”
Andrii Kovalenko, head of the National Security and Defense Council’s Center for Countering Disinformation, stated that Belarus is lying about Ukrainian drones near the border and is trying to provoke a conflict.
“This is exactly what Russia demands of Belarus. It is worth recalling that it was Belarus that provided its territory for the Russian invasion in 2022,” Kovalenko said. “I am confident that Lukashenko’s regime fully understands the consequences of its actions in Russia’s interests in 2026. That could be a completely different story.”
Russia's attempts to drag Belarus into the war against Ukraine
On May 2, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that “unusual activity” had been observed near the Belarusian border the previous day. He emphasized that Ukraine is closely monitoring all developments.
On May 4, Andriy Demchenko, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service, reported that Belarus was continuing to establish training grounds and logistics routes that Russia could use at any moment. Currently, the Russian military presence in Belarus is insufficient to launch an offensive against Ukraine.
On May 12, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko announced plans for a targeted mobilization of certain military units to “prepare for possible combat operations.” He claimed that Belarus is “committed to peace,” but the army must be ready for war “if necessary.”
On May 15, Zelenskyy stated that he had instructed Ukraine’s Defense Forces and security agencies to prepare a response plan to threats from Belarus.
On May 21, Ukraine’s SBU Security Service and the Ukrainian Defense Forces announced the implementation of enhanced security measures in five northern regions bordering the aggressor states of Russia and Belarus.
On May 25, State Border Guard Service spokesperson Andriy Demchenko stated that Ukraine has not detected the formation of strike groups on the border with Belarus, but the threat in this area remains.