Explosion Damages Russian A-50 Early Warning Aircraft in Belarus

An explosion damaged the radome antenna and the front fuselage of a Russian A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft (AWACS) at the Machulishchi military air base, located 12 kilometers from the Belarusian capital, Minsk.
Reports published by the Belarusian BIPOL media on its Telegram channel said a loud explosion was heard from the Machulishchi military air base at about 18:33 Minsk time on Sunday evening. The cause of the blast is not known at the time of writing.

Reports attributed to local opposition sources in Minsk say the cause of the explosion was a drone attack that flew under the nose of air defense radars.
The distance from the Machulishchi air base to the Ukrainian border is around 325 km. It is within the capabilities of some of the drones which Ukraine has to fly up and attack the base.

Drones launched from Ukraine have in the past attacked Russian air bases housing Tu-22 and Tu-160 bombers of the RuAF. However, Ukraine has not officially claimed attacks on targets inside Russia.

The Machulishchi air base is used by the Russian Aerospace Forces (RuAF) for the war with Ukraine. Russian A-50U AEW&C aircraft and MiG-31 fighters regularly take off from this air base.

Belarus is supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine including allowing the Russian air force to operate from its bases.

According to Russian ORBAT sources, Moscow has some 15 A-50 aircraft. It is not known how many of them are in operation. The loss of one active A-50 could dent is early warning capabilities at a time when Ukraine is receiving increasingly sophisticated Western weaponry.