A Russian military plane was damaged in a drone strike near the capital Minsk, opposition leaders in exile in Belarus say.
Aliksandr Azarov, the leader of Belarusian opposition party Bypol, claimed responsibility for the attack in a Telegram post.
A Russian military aircraft named Berif A-50 is said to have been hit by several explosions near the Machulischi airfield.
The incident comes amid increased cooperation between Belarus and Russia over the Ukraine war.
In a Telegram post, Bypol claimed that the attack damaged the plane’s front and center sections, as well as its radar and antenna.
Opposition leader Mr. “These were drones,” Azarov said. The attack was carried out by the Belarusians.”
Franak Viakorka, an adviser to the Belarusian opposition leader, told the BBC the attack was “creative” and “touching”.
“It was a very daring attack. Because the people of Belarus are living in a very dangerous environment,” he told BBC News.
He added that the opposition was “definitely helped by the local people, helped by the military” for the attack that damaged the Russian plane.
However, it was not possible to verify the truth of this claim of the anti-government and what actually happened there from an independent source.
There is no comment from the Ministry of Defense of Russia and Belarus regarding this incident.
Bypol, an organization claiming responsibility for the attack on the Russian military aircraft, is made up of former members of the Belarusian law enforcement agency.
The party opposes the government of President Russian military.
Mr. Lukashenko’s government has listed the group as a terrorist organization.
Belarusian President Lukashenko is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He is an authoritarian leader. He has been in power since 1994. The vote in which he was re-elected in 2020 was so flawed that the European Union did not recognize the election results.
Although Belarus is not yet directly involved in the war in Ukraine, President Alexander Lukashenko has allowed Russian troops to use Belarusian territory to attack Ukraine.
A few days ago Mr. Lukashenko said he was ready to allow his country’s territory to be used as a base for Russia’s new attack on Ukraine.
However, he said that the Belarusian troops will not take part in this war directly, they will only defend their territory in case of an attack from outside.
There are also several thousand Russian troops in Belarus, and the two countries have participated in joint military exercises in recent months.
Belarus shares a border with Russia as well as Ukraine.
