Published: Less than 50 min ago
A mysterious duo is singled out as the masterminds behind the coup against the airbase in Belarus.
The attack is said to have been carried out with six drones that struck at the same time.
The blown-up Russian superplane is said to be worth billions – and is a major loss in the war against Ukraine.
The information about the explosion of the A-50 radar reconnaissance plane at the Machulishchy air base outside Minsk in Belarus is being received with joy in Ukraine.
– Good news for the Ukrainian Air Force, says spokesman Yuriy Ihnat.
He states that the plane “has been constantly in the air” and conducted radar reconnaissance, looked for Ukrainian air defenses and followed the movement patterns of Ukrainian fighter planes.
Iron ring around the border
After the attack, which is said to have taken place on Sunday morning, Belarusian authorities have tightened border controls and are checking every bag and vehicle thoroughly.
The Soviet-built aircraft has an advanced radar system with a range of up to 40 miles and can track 150 targets simultaneously.
According to the Belarusian opposition newspaper Nasha Niva, Russia has a total of nine such planes that are used, among other things, to guide Russian robots to their targets in Ukraine.
According to the Belarusian opposition group Bypol and its leader Aliaksandr Azarov, it is resistance men inside Belarus who carried out the attack.
Superplanet worth billions
According to the country’s opposition leadership in exile, the plane should be worth more than three billion kroner.
“I am proud of all Belarusians who continue to fight against the Russian hybrid occupation of Belarus and fight for the freedom of Ukraine,” writes opposition leader Svetlana Tichanovskaya on Twitter.
According to her adviser Franak Viacorka, two members of the armed resistance movement have blown up the plane with the help of drones.
The Russian site Tsargrad states that a total of six drones were used to knock out the plane.
Several of the drones are said to have been shot down, but they did not succeed in neutralizing all of them before they reached their target.
“Railroad warriors” behind attack
According to human rights groups inside Belarus, the regime has already raided a residence near the airfield and arrested an activist.
However, the duo behind the attack must have had time to leave the country according to the opposition.
The opposition group Bypol was founded in 2020 after the massive protests against the election in which Lukashenko was re-elected as president following widespread allegations of fraud.
They became famous around the world last year when they were behind sabotage operations against the rail network in Belarus to slow the pace of Russian troop movements to the war in Ukraine.
The operations were called the “railway war” and several of the members of the group have been arrested and sentenced to long prison terms.
Changed tactics
According to Azarov, the group changed tactics when new opportunities arose, but that it took three to four months to plan an operation of this type.
– It is necessary to reconnoitre, to find out how we can strike. If one operation fails, we initiate another. And that’s how our partisans found such an interesting object, he tells Radio Free Europe.
Belarus is not actively participating in Russia’s war against Ukraine. But they have allowed Russian troops to pass through the country and, according to Ukraine, have also provided their airfields for Russian aircraft.