Belarus urges citizens to avoid travel to Russia after second bus attack

Alexander Volfovich, the state secretary of Belarus’s Security Council, urged Belarusians to avoid traveling to Russia, particularly to border regions. He made the appeal after Russian officials said a Ukrainian drone had attacked a tourist bus from Belarus in the Bryansk region. According to Russia’s Investigative Committee, an explosive device detonated “in the immediate vicinity” of the bus, wounding two drivers and a passenger.

Volfovich noted that the Belarusian president had previously warned about the dangers, and urged citizens to avoid travel to Russia because “drones fall there every day, and these kinds of bad incidents happen.” He added that these are “completely private trips” and that “no one will be able to guarantee your safety until the special military operation ends.”

According to the outlet Zerkalo, the Russian and Belarusian versions of events diverge. The Belarusian television network ONT published another statement from Volfovich saying the bus was struck by accident, but later deleted the quote. Russian authorities, including Ambassador to Belarus Boris Gryzlov, maintain that Ukraine deliberately targeted the bus.

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya also urged Belarusians not to travel to Russia. President Alexander Lukashenko had not commented on the attack as of publication. Ukraine’s General Staff called the reported drone strike on the bus a staged “provocation.”

This is the second passenger bus from Belarus to come under attack in Russia’s Bryansk region. On June 17, Russian authorities claimed, a Ukrainian drone struck another bus carrying 44 people, including 28 children — members of a youth soccer team from a sports school in the Belarusian city of Rechytsa. A woman accompanying the team was killed, and six people, including four children, were injured. Ukrainian security services called the accusations a Moscow-staged provocation.