Ukraine’s intelligence agency calls Russian missile strikes launched from Belarus a provocation
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On the night of June 25, a massive missile attack was carried out against Ukraine. Specifically, many of the missiles were launched by Russian bombers launched from the territory of Belarus. For this operation, Russia used six Tu-22M3 aircraft, which fired 12 X-22 cruise missiles. The attack was carried out near a district of the city of Petrikov, not far from Mozyr, approximately 50-60 kilometers from the border of Ukraine, HUR reported.
The bombers took off from the Shaikovka airport in the Kaluga region of the Russian Federation. After going through the territory of the Kaluga and Smolensk regions, they entered the airspace of Belarus. After they launched the missiles, they returned to the Shaikovka airport. The attack struck targets in Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy oblasts, and there are additional reports of missile strikes against Zhytomyr, Chernihiv and Lviv Oblasts.
“This is the first time an airstrike on Ukraine came directly from the territory of Belarus,” a spokesperson for HUR wrote.
“Today’s attack is directly related to the attempts of the Kremlin authorities to draw Belarus into the war in Ukraine as a direct participant.”
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HUR also stated that yesterday it received intelligence about the activity of a Russian sabotage group in Mozyr, which has seen an evacuation of local elites in recent days.
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The Ukrainian intelligence agency says that the group’s goal is to bomb residential buildings, schools, and hospitals in the city, in a false flag attack to blame Ukraine.
