The Belarusian Foreign Ministry on August 10 summoned the Ukrainian charge d'affaires over alleged airspace violations after authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka claimed Ukrainian drones had flown over the country's border with Ukraine.
"The Belarusian side demanded that comprehensive measures be taken to rule out any such future incidents in the future which could lead to further escalation of the situation in the region," TASS quoted the ministry's press service as saying.
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Lukashenka ordered the country's borders with Ukraine to be beefed up after accusing Ukraine of flying drones into the country's airspace.
Lukashenka claimed earlier that Belarusian air-defense forces had destroyed several targets over that country's territory.
Cited by the Belarusian news agency Belta, Lukashenka, without providing evidence, claimed they were launched from Ukraine and that they were most likely drones.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry said the incident was a "dangerous attempt to expand the current conflict zone" in the region, according to the state-run BelTA news agency.
Belarus is an ally of Russia in its war with Ukraine. Ukraine and Belarus share a nearly 1,100-kilometer border.
Lukashenka's remarks come amid a Ukrainian incursion inside Russia. The cross-border action in Russia's Kursk region has been described as the biggest attack on Russian soil since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his country's unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Ukraine has so far not commented on Lukashenka's remarks.
Lukashenka said "about a dozen" drones had violated Belarusian airspace in the eastern Mogilev region bordering Russia on August 9.
Lukashenka said others were later destroyed near the Russian city of Yaroslavl. Earlier on August 10, the Russian Defense Ministry said Russian forces had intercepted six drones in the Yaroslavl region.
Later, Viktar Khrenin, Belarus's defense minister, said Lukashenka had ordered him to reinforce Belarus's border with Ukraine.
"Considering the situation in Ukraine and in the Kursk region of Russia, the commander in chief of the armed forces has given orders to reinforce troops in the Gomel and Mazyr tactical areas in order to respond to such provocations," Khrenin said.
"Special operations forces, ground troops, and rocket forces, including Polonez and Iskander systems, have been tasked with deploying to the designated areas."
He said Belarus regarded the violation of its airspace as a provocation and "was ready to respond."