According to reports Aliaksandr Azarov, leader of the Belarusian anti-government organisation BYPOL confirmed, "those were drones and are now safe, outside the country"

Belarus partisans and members of the exiled opposition on Sunday notified a Russian A-50 surveillance military aircraft being damaged in a drone attack at an airfield near the Belarus capital of Minsk.

According to reports Aliaksandr Azarov, leader of the Belarusian anti-government organisation BYPOL confirmed, “those were drones and are now safe, outside the country."

Further, Franak Viacorka, an adviser to Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya in his Twitter post underlined, the damage was the ‘most successful act’ of sabotage since the beginning of 2022.

Meanwhile, there is no response from the defence ministries of Russia and Belarus regarding the military aircraft damage. But BYPOL has reported the front and central parts of the aircraft and the radar antenna had been damaged under the two explosives in the attack.

The Beriev A-50 aircraft, with a NATO reporting name of Mainstay, is a Russian airborne early warning aircraft, with airborne command and control capabilities, and tracks up to 60 targets at a time.

Reports suggest right from the beginning of Russia's Ukraine invasion, Belarus and Russian regions bordering Ukraine, especially the railway system have witnessed several acts of sabotage. In a measure same Russia and Belarus have even set up a joint military unit in Belarus and have held numerous exercises and many Russian warplanes and airborne early warning and control aircraft have been deployed to Belarus.

Tsikhanouskaya applauded Belarusian support on Twitter stating, “I am proud of all my country's people who continue to resist the Russian hybrid occupation of Belarus and fight for the freedom of Ukraine.”