Russian Military Aircraft Blown up Near Minsk: Belarusian Partisans

A Russian A-50 surveillance aircraft was destroyed by a drone attack near the Belarus capital of Minsk. Belarusian anti-government activists have claimed responsibility for what they said was a drone attack on a Russian A-50 surveillance aircraft at an airfield near the Belarus capital of Minsk on Sunday. "Those were drones. The participants of the operation are Belarusian," Aliaksandr Azarov, leader of Belarusian anti-government organization BYPOL, was quoted as saying on the organisation's Telegram messaging app and on the Poland-based Belsat news channel.

At the Belarusian airfield "Machulishchi" a Russian military aircraft AWACS A-50 was blown up . This is reported by the monitoring channel "Belarusian Gayun" with reference to the opposition movement BYPOL pic.twitter.com/ROb0n1iVmT

— Per Ekstrom (@PerEkstrom1) February 26, 2023

As per report, there was no official confirmation from Russia or Belarus and there was no immediate response from their defence ministries to requests for comment. Front and central parts of the aircraft as well as the radar antenna were damaged as a result of two explosions in the attack at the Machulishchy air base near Minsk, BYPOL reported. Russia and Belarus have set up a joint military unit in Belarus and have held numerous exercises. A number of Russian warplanes and airborne early warning and control aircraft have been deployed to Belarus.