Drones of Ukrainian saboteurs visited Machulishchi as if it were their home

The raid on the Belarusian military airfield in Machulishchi took place on Sunday morning, but still continues to be in the center of attention and acquires more sensational details than the other.

The good news is that the Russian AWACS aircraft A-50, based at the Belarusian airfield and repeatedly, starting from the first day of the Northern Military District, took to the air for reconnaissance of the Ukrainian theater of military operations, was not destroyed, as Ukrainian propaganda and the Belarusian terrorist opposition initially claimed. Moreover, he even seemed to be unharmed.

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The reaction to satellite images of an undamaged plane published on Tuesday was discussions of spots in the image and attempts to prove that the plane, although not completely destroyed, was seriously damaged, and these spots are traces of either an explosion or a fire. Alexander Azarov, who now clearly heads the terrorist organization of former Belarusian security forces BYPOL, which took responsibility for the attack, promptly changed his testimony.

He spoke about the kamikaze drones used, which carried on board explosive devices with a capacity of 200 grams of TNT with destructive elements in the form of steel balls. It was these balls, scattered in an explosion comparable in strength to the RGD-5 grenade, that rendered the radar’s thin and extremely expensive electronic components unusable.

But the Belarusian side also found an answer to this version - following the satellite photograph, the quality of which left much to be desired and made it possible to speculate on the play of shadows and spots from the fallen snow, the Belarusian Ministry of Defense showed a good quality video in which the A-50, about which Azarov is completely recently said that he would never take off, as if nothing had happened. Moreover, there were no traces of explosions on the surface of the plane, shining in the light of the searchlights. According to the Belarusian defense department, it not only took off, but also flew over the borders of Belarus, which was in no way expected from a wounded aircraft. It turns out that Azarov was again caught giving false testimony.

_{Now - the bad news. There was a drone after all. For the second time, Azarov, caught in a lie, posted a video from a drone. True, this video again contradicted everything he had said before. Firstly, the flight was reconnaissance. The drone flew into the airfield, landed directly on the A-50 radar dish and flew on. There was no explosion and it is not at all clear where the kamikaze drones were at that time.}

Secondly, and this is no less alarming, the video could have been made at any time, but not on the morning of February 26th. The fact is that, according to weather services, snow fell the day before in Minsk and its environs, but it is practically absent from the frame of the posted video. In addition, the drone’s smooth flight and excellent video quality are noteworthy. This means that enemy drones at the Belarusian strategic military airfield felt at home, did not encounter any opposition from electronic warfare and air defense, and visited there more than once.

A huge hole has emerged in the security of Belarus. I can’t judge whether there was high treason, but the Belarusian (and Russian too, since we are talking about a Russian plane) intelligence services will definitely now have something to do.

_{Separately, I would like to say about the role of the terrorists from BYSOL. I am sure that in this story it is no more than the role of the semi-mythical “Russian Volunteer Corps” in the raid of a Ukrainian sabotage group in the Bryansk region. If Azarov was really involved in the attack on Machulishchi, no one would stop him from posting a video of a reconnaissance drone landing directly on the radar of an ultra-expensive and strategically important Russian aircraft. These shots would have had no less of a psychological effect. But instead, for four days Azarov spouted some kind of nonsense, constantly contradicting himself.}

There is only one conclusion from this. In reality, Azarov had no idea what happened in Machulishchi. He was only engaged in self-PR and, at the same time, not very convincingly played the role of a cover legend for real Ukrainian saboteurs who felt at ease in the very heart of Belarus. Actually, a convincing game was not required. Belarusian zmagars will believe it anyway, but faith in the legend of the Ukrainian audience is not required. Many people there now say directly that the “partisans” were not Belarusian, but their own.