Russian air defence in Belarus downs its own attack drones during nighttime attack on Ukraine

Russian air defence, deployed in Belarus, has shot down its own Shahed attack drones during a Russian large-scale attack on Ukraine on the night of 4-5 September, which led to explosions and a fire at a warehouse in the city of Gomel.

Source: Belaruski Hajun, a Belarusian military monitoring project

Details: Analysts reported that at least eight Russian Shahed drones flew into the airspace of Belarus on the night of 4-5 September. Russian air defence responded to the drones at 01:34 and 01:36, shooting down at least one Shahed.

Local residents reported explosions and the fall of a burning drone. The incident was also confirmed by Russian propaganda news outlets, reporting on the work of the 1530th anti-aircraft missile regiment of the Russian Armed Forces, which is stationed at the Zyabrawka airfield in the Gomel district. The downed drone fell on a warehouse in Gomel, causing a fire. Analysts noted that no air-raid warning had been issued in the city.

In response to the drone activity, the Belarusian Air Force scrambled its fighter jets from the airfield in Baranavichy and attempted to shoot down the drones. Reportedly, at around 02:30, one of the Shahed drones was hit over the town of Khoiniki.

Some of the drones returned to Ukrainian airspace, while others continued to move deeper into Belarus, heading for Mazyr, Khoiniki and Bragin.

Belaruski Hajun stressed that two of the eight drones were shot down, while the rest either returned to Ukraine or disappeared from radars.

Background:

• Since the evening of 4 September, Russian troops have been launching attack drones into Ukraine.
• On the night of 3-4 September, at least four Russian Shahed kamikaze drones violated Belarusian airspace, forcing the Belarusian Air Force to scramble its fighter jets to shoot them down.
• The Belarusian General Staff stated that on the night of 4-5 September, Russian drones flew into the country and had to be shot down, but pretended not to know where the UAVs were launched from.

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