Russian pilots arrive in Belarus and paratrooper training begins – observers

ALONA MAZURENKO —  FRIDAY, 8 JULY 2022, 22:41

The monitoring group "Belaruski Gayun" has reported that Belarus has seen an increase in air training at 5 airfields at the same time; pilots from the Russian Federation have arrived and paratroop training has begun.

Source: "Belarusian Gayun"

Quote: "Fighter pilots are training in Baranavichy: take-offs with combat equipment, a rapid start and a fast climb. Starting from 16 June, the airfield has been periodically used for training troop landings from a Belarusian Air Force Mi-8 helicopter. Usually, such training sessions are held a few times a year, but in three weeks their annual norm has already been exceeded.

In addition, about 20 pilots from the Russian Federation have arrived in Baranavichy. They arrived in the city on the morning of 7 July by the regular Moscow-Brest train.

Moreover, this is not the first report that the Russian military has again started arriving in Belarus by regular passenger trains. There is a certain correlation between the arrival of the Russian military and an increase in the number of air training sessions."

Details: Also among the atypical exercises was the frequent landing of troops in Machulishchy (near the town of Gatovo).

On 8 July, for the first time, a landing exercise was held in the Yelsk district, between Yelsk and the village of Dvizhki.

It is reported that the landing took place at the highest point of the area, in 3-4 approaches of 9 soldiers each.

Just like in Baranavichy, they landed from a Belarusian Air Force Mi-8 helicopter, which then flew towards Mozyr.

The resumption of training flights has also been recorded in Luninets and Lida, and in the latter town, extremely low flights of L-39 Albatros aircraft, usually used to train beginners, have been seen directly above the roofs of houses.

In Babruysk, landing exercises over the airfield have taken place twice since 6 July.

It is reported that there have been some cases recently of training outside specially designated places in Belarus.

For example, training sessions were held on 5-6 July, near the village of Zabozie (Yelsk  district, Gomel Oblast), on shooting from an under-barrel grenade launcher, presumably the GP-25 Kostyor.

On 7 July, exercises accompanied by the sounds of explosions were noted near the river Sozh in Cherykaw (Mogilev Oblast).

The number of training sessions at military airfields in Baranavichy, Machulishchy, Lida, Luninets and Babruysk also increased.

Reminder: On 26 June, Ukraine’s military intelligence service announced that Russia was again increasing its military presence in Belarus, specifically military aviation, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Belarus was being dragged into the war more actively than at the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.