Belarusian authorities have urged citizens to refrain from traveling to Russia. Photo: Olesya Kurpyayeva/AFP/Getty Images State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus Alexander Wolfovich recommended that citizens of the country temporarily abstain from traveling to Russia, especially to border areas. This was reported on Thursday, July 2, by the state agency BelTA. Wolfovich's comment followed after Russian authorities announced for the second time in three weeks about an attack by Ukrainian drones on buses carrying Belarusian citizens in the border Bryansk region. "We warned you, the president has repeatedly spoken and said: dear Belarusians, refrain from traveling to Russia today, especially to border areas. Drones fall there every day, such unfortunate incidents occur. We have not closed the borders; it is each person's decision to go or not to go," said the Secretary of the Security Council. Wolfovich also noted that the bus that came under fire was not involved in any "organized excursion" from a school, sports society, or agency. "These are absolutely private trips of various citizens of our Belarus who decided to go to Anapa on the Black Sea. The idea is good, wonderful, but by traveling there, they undoubtedly expose themselves to great danger," he said. The Secretary of the Security Council added that no one could guarantee safety on such trips "until the end of the war in Ukraine," and reminded about the opportunities for recreation in Belarus. ## ## Russian Authorities Reported Strikes on Buses with Belarusians on June 17 and July 2 On June 17, in the Bryansk region, a UAV hit a bus with a children's football team from Belarus, which was traveling from Gomel to rest in Gelendzhik. There were 44 people in the vehicle, including 28 children. As a result of the strike, a woman accompanying the children was killed, and six people were injured, including four children, regional authorities noted. Representatives of Russia and Belarus blamed Ukraine for the strike, and Minsk demanded explanations from Kyiv in this regard. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine rejected the accusations, stating that "during the specified period, the Defense Forces of Ukraine did not use unmanned aerial vehicles in the territory of the Bryansk region." "We regard such reports as yet another information provocation from the Kremlin," the Ukrainian side noted. Another attack on a bus with Belarusians occurred in the Bryansk region on July 2; it was en route from Minsk to Anapa. As a result, two drivers and one passenger were injured and hospitalized in the Gomel Regional Clinical Hospital, the Ministry of Health of Belarus stated. The other 18 passengers in the vehicle were not harmed. The authorities of the Bryansk region blamed Ukraine for the strike.
