Kiev, Aug 18 The situation on Ukraine's border with Belarus remains "unchanged," Andriy Demchenko, the spokesman of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, said on Sunday.
Demchenko denounced as "false" the remarks of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko regarding the deployment of additional Belarusian troops along the border with Ukraine, the Ukrayinska Pravda media outlet reported.
"We have not seen an increase in the equipment or manpower of Belarusian units near our border," Demchenko was quoted as saying.
Earlier in the day, Lukashenko said that Belarus had deployed a third of its army along the border with Ukraine, according to local media reports.
The comment comes in the wake of the latest statement by the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Aleksander Lukashenko, who claimed in an interview that he had ordered almost a third of his army to be deployed toward the border with Ukraine because of the alleged presence of over 120,000 Ukrainian soldiers on the other side.
"We deployed and placed our military at certain points along the entire border – as it would be in case of war, a defensive effort. Also, there are special services, special operations units, such as Alpha, Almaz, and others, the most prepared ones doing their job," said Lukashenko.
He went on to claim that "escalation" at the border allegedly started late June – early July, when preparations were being made for the Independence Day parade in Minsk. At that time, a lot of "aircraft" and ground forces’ units moved from Russia to Belarus to take part in the event, Lukashenko added.
As the Belarusian media reported, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus summoned Chargé d'Affaires ad Interim of Ukraine, Olha Tymush, handing her a note of protest "in connection with the violation of the border of the Republic of Belarus by a group of unmanned aerial vehicles launched from the territory of Ukraine."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said the statements by the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Aleksander Lukashenko, of the alleged downing of “air targets from Ukraine” serve to once again incite anti-Ukrainian sentiments and design “imaginary threats”.
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