Explosions were heard over Belarus, Gomel residents saw a flaming ball in the night sky

Residents of the Belarusian city of Gomel reported explosions in the sky. This is reported by the Telegram channel Shot.

At about 01:30 local time (the same as Moscow time), two loud bangs were heard. After that, a fireball was observed falling outside the city. There is no information about casualties or damage, and the official authorities did not comment on the incident.

Later, a video of the emergency appeared online. The video shows a glowing unidentified flying object falling, disappearing behind buildings.

Presumably, the footage captured the operation of air defense systems. The distance from Gomel to the border with Ukraine is about 40 kilometers.

Belarus Accuses Ukraine of Drone Attacks

On August 9, the air defense forces of Belarus shot down 13 drones flying from the territory of Ukraine. This was stated by the deputy head of the faculty of the General Staff of the Military Academy of Belarus Andrei Bogodel. He specified that the drones were destroyed over Kostyukovichi.

According to him, the attack was aimed at demonstrating Ukraine’s impunity. In addition, the colonel believes that Ukrainian troops wanted to test the strength of relations between Russia and Belarus: “The Ukrainians didn’t know that we had a single regional air defense group? Of course they did. They wanted to see how our doctrine worked.”

Following the incident with Ukrainian drones that violated the country’s airspace, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry summoned the Chargé d’Affaires of Ukraine, Olga Timush, and lodged a strong protest with her. Minsk demanded that measures be taken to prevent similar situations in the future and warned of a response.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko promised to personally deal with the situation on the border with Ukraine. He said that he would not leave any provocations from Kyiv unanswered and instructed the military to take measures to ensure state security.