Russian aircraft А-50 AEW&C exploded in Belarus

An explosion disabled a Russian A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft.

This was reported by the Belarusian monitoring group Belaruskiy Gayun and the BIPOL media.

According to Belarusian opposition sources, an explosion damaged the Russian A-50 aircraft at the Machulishchi military air base, located 12 kilometers from Minsk.

The Machulishchi air base is used by the Russian Aerospace Forces for the war with Ukraine.

Russian A-50U AEW&C aircraft and MiG-31 fighters regularly take off from this air base.

It is claimed that А-50 suffered serious damage, and “the plane will definitely not fly anywhere.”

“As a result of two explosions, the front and center parts of the aircraft were damaged, avionics and a radar antenna were damaged,” the report said.

According to BIPOL, the incident occurred while working near snow removal equipment.

According to the Belaruskiy Gayun monitoring group, today at 18:33 Minsk time, an Il-76 military transport aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces with the registration number RF-86843 also flew to the Machulishchi airfield from Russia.

According to the monitoring group, this aircraft’s flight to the airfields in Baranovichi and Machulishchi was previously seen in Belarus in February 2022.

It was also reported that the inspections of aircraft began after the explosions.

On the outskirts of the Machulishchi airfield, traffic police and internal troops were active, In several places around the airfield, traffic police stopped cars and checked the trunks and driver documents.