The Kremlin on Friday expressed “extreme concern” after Belarus said the wreckage of a Ukrainian missile had landed on its soil Thursday.
“The Kremlin is concerned about the incident with the fall of the Ukrainian rocket in Belarus,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“This is an event that causes extreme concern not only among us, but also among our Belarusian partners,” Peskov continued, adding the armed forces of the two countries were “in constant contact.”
Peskov’s comments come after the Belarusian defense ministry claimed on Thursday that it had shot down the missile and that fragments from the Ukrainian S-300 anti-aircraft guided missile had then landed on its territory in an area close to the country’s border with Ukraine.
CNN was not able to independently verify the ministry's report.
Responding to the allegation, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense said it was “aware of the Kremlin's desperate and persistent efforts to drag Belarus into its aggressive war against Ukraine,” adding it would "not rule out" a "deliberate provocation" from Russia.
CNN's Uliana Pavlova, Radina Gigova, Niamh Kennedy and Yulia Kesaieva contributed reporting to this post.