The attack was carefully planned for months by BYPOL, a group of Belarusian citizens opposed to the Lukashenko regime’s decision to support the Russian invasion.
The attack took everyone by surprise: a group of Belarusian guerrillas fighting the war in Ukraine launched an attack against a military airport on the outskirts of Minsk, Belarus, and destroyed one of the most expensive aircraft in the Russian military arsenal.
The attack was carefully planned for months by BYPOL, a group of Belarusian citizens opposed to the Lukashenko regime’s decision to support the Russian invasion.
The plan was to send several drones with explosives to the Machulishchi military airfield, 12 kilometers from the Belarusian capital. The base is home to several Beriev A-50 aircraft, which are used for reconnaissance and threat detection.
At least two drones managed to approach the area and drop several grenades at the planes. One of the planes hit the cockpit area and the radar area in the center of the plane. According to a post on the group’s Telegram account, the plane was completely destroyed in the attack.
“One of the nine A-50s of the Russian forces worth $330 million [cerca de 310 milhões de euros] destroyed. Of course, they will not fly to any lake,” the group wrote, adding that after the attack, members of the organization involved in the attack were able to leave the country.
Although this has not been officially confirmed, several Russian sources say the explosions took place on Belarusian territory, which is consistent with the claimed attack. Some Russian military bloggers even talk of damage to a Russian “military transport plane”.
The Kremlin declined to comment on the attacks. Dmitry Peskov, questioned by reporters this Monday, said only that he had “nothing to say” on the matter.
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