A top Ukrainian security official on Friday warned Belarus not to send troops to Ukraine, saying Ukraine was showing restraint towards its neighbour despite the country being used as a launchpad for Russian planes.
"I want to underline that the transfer of troops is in no way connected with (any) preparation, and especially not with the participation of Belarusian soldiers in the special military operation on the territory of Ukraine," Gulevich said.
On Friday, Ukraine's armed forces said Russian aircraft fired at a Belarusian settlement near the border with Ukraine from Ukrainian air space to try to drag Belarus into the war.
The Ukrainian air force said at 2.30pm local time the state border service received information that Russian aircraft had taken off from an airfield in Belarus, crossed into Ukrainian air space and then fired at the village of Kopani.
"This is a PROVOCATION! The goal is to involve the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus in the war with Ukraine!," Ukraine's Air Force Command said in an online statement.
The Ukrainian military said two other Belarusian settlements were also targeted in the same operation.
"We officially declare: the Ukrainian military has not planned and does not plan to take any aggressive action against the Republic of Belarus," the security service said in a statement.
An adviser to Ukraine's president said what he called a false-flag attack on Belarusian villages took place while Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko was meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and was intended to bring Belarus into the conflict.
"I believe that (the Belarusian military command) will do everything they can to avoid this scenario," presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in a televised interview.
