Belarus opposition leaders said they launched a drone attack against a Russian military surveillance aircraft, successfully damaging it. The head of the exiled organization BYPOL claimed responsibility Sunday for the strike—which he said took place at an airfield near Minsk, the capital of Belarus—on the Telegram messaging app, Reuters reports. Neither Russia nor Belarus confirmed the attack. In a statement to the Daily Beast, the chief political adviser to the Belarusian opposition leader said the Beriev A-50 might be Russia's most important aircraft. "It's a victory of Belarusian partisans, for Belarusian underground resistance," Franak Viacorka said, "and it's the most successful act of sabotage perhaps in Belarusian history."
The A-50 serves as an airborne command center that can direct Russian air strikes while tracking as many as 60 targets at once. Belarus is not directly engaged in the war in Ukraine, but President Alexander Lukashenko has defended it. He's let Russian troops move through the country on their way to the fighting, which has sparked opposition attempts at disruption. The Russian and Belarusian governments have been stepping up their cooperation lately, per the BBC, which includes taking part in joint military training exercises. The partisans said the plane is too damaged now, after several explosions, to be used, though that could not be confirmed. Viacorka told BBC News the attack "was very brave because Belarusians are in a situation of the total terror." (More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)
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