SBU Calls Bryansk Bus Strike Russian False Flag Operation

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said it had obtained a Russian internal document that it says shows Ukrainian forces were not responsible for a drone strike on a bus carrying Belarusian civilians in Russia’s Bryansk region.

According to the SBU, the document – an information report from the monitoring center of Russia’s state-run “Safe Region” system – states that no Ukrainian drones were detected in the skies over the Pochep district in Bryansk at the time of the attack.

The agency said the absence of Ukrainian drones was confirmed by both the duty officer of a radar battalion stationed in Suponevo – a small settlement in the Bryansk region used as a location for Russian military radar units – and the duty officer of Russia’s 32nd Division.

“Russian special services operation,” the SBU said.

“Therefore, the SBU has grounds to believe that the strike on the bus carrying Belarusian civilians in Russia’s Bryansk region was a special operation by Russian special services,” the agency said in a statement.

Deadly strike on Belarusian youth football team

Acting Bryansk Region Governor Yegor Kovalchuk said on Wednesday that Ukrainian drones had struck a bus transporting a Belarusian youth football team traveling from Belarus’s Gomel to the Black Sea resort city of Gelendzhik.

One woman accompanying the group was killed, and seven other people were wounded, including five children, according to Russian authorities.

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‘If Ukraine Burns, Moscow Will Burn’: Zelensky Links Moscow Strike to Lavra Attack

The Ukrainian leader said Russia’s war must carry a growing cost for both the Kremlin and ordinary Russians.

Moscow opened a terrorism case over the incident, while the Russian foreign ministry called it “another monstrous crime.”

Ukraine’s General Staff denied involvement, saying Ukrainian forces had not conducted drone strikes on the Bryansk region “during the specified period” and described Moscow’s accusations as a provocation.

Diplomatic fallout with Belarus

The diplomatic fallout widened on Thursday as Belarus summoned Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires, Ivan Novitsky, and handed him a formal note of protest.

Belarusian state media said Minsk “decisively” condemned what it described as an “inhumane act of terrorism” and demanded that Kyiv conduct an “immediate and objective investigation” and punish those responsible.

Belarus also said it “reserves the right to take appropriate action in response to the Ukrainian side.”

Ukraine’s Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said he was ready to participate in a “transparent and impartial” effort to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko also blamed Ukraine for the attack, saying during a military briefing that the bus had been struck by a drone “of Ukrainian origin,” despite Kyiv’s suggestion that Russian forces themselves could have carried out the strike.

Kyiv warns of Russian efforts to involve Belarus

The exchange comes amid renewed warnings from Kyiv about Moscow’s efforts to involve Belarus more directly in the war.

Following a meeting with Ukraine’s military and intelligence leadership on May 15, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian intelligence had uncovered additional contacts between Russian officials and Lukashenko aimed at drawing Minsk into future military operations.

“We continue recording Russian attempts to pull Belarus deeper into the war against Ukraine,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram.

According to Zelensky, Russia is considering scenarios that could involve operations launched from Belarusian territory either toward Ukraine’s Chernihiv-Kyiv axis or against a NATO member state.

Lukashenko, however, made a surprising U-turn in his rhetoric the day before the Bryansk attack.

On Monday, he ruled out Belarus entering Russia’s war against Ukraine, calling any spillover of the conflict onto Belarusian territory “absolutely unacceptable.”

In comments carried by BelTA News Agency on Monday, Lukashenko said he had discussed the issue with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, who, according to him, also agreed that Belarus’s entry into the war “in any capacity” would be unacceptable.

“We aren’t going to jump to conclusions, but we’re clearly stating the fact that this drone is of Ukrainian origin,” Lukashenko said, warning that attempts to drag Belarus into the war would “end badly for those trying to do it.”

Belarus, Moscow’s closest ally, allowed Russian troops to use its territory as a staging ground and launching pad for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.