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Ukrainian media reports began claiming Sunday that a large explosion rocked Machulishchy airbase in Minsk Oblast in Belarus, with reports saying a Russian aircraft had been damaged. Eyewitness accounts suggested two explosions in the Sunday morning hours.
"According to preliminary reports, the traffic police stopped the cars in several places around the airbase and checked the trunks and ID of the drivers," Ukrainska Pravda reported, also citing the presence of emergency vehicles on the scene. But now there appears further confirmation in AFP that a Russian military airplane was likely destroyed at the airfield.
Secret operatives reportedly used drones to carry out the attack, before sneaking back across the border and out of Belarus. Reuters is also as of Monday morning reporting the news.
Belarus' anti-Lukashenko opposition is now claiming that it was a successful sabotage operation which targeted Russian aircraft. The information has been revealed by officials working under exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya:
"Partisans... confirmed a successful special operation to blow up a rare Russian plane at the airfield in Machulishchy near Minsk," tweeted Franak Viacorka, a close adviser of opposition figurehead Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
"This is the most successful diversion since the beginning of 2022," he added.
The two Belarusians who carried out the operation had used drones, he said, adding that they had already left the country and were safe.