Explosions were heard overnight in the area of the Zyabrovka airfield in Belarus’ Homiel region, Belarusian Hajun Telegram channel reports.
The channel reported at least eight flashes. A reader of Zerkalo.io news portal stated that at about 12.30 a.m., he heard “five powerful blasts”. The blast wave was felt in Homiel. Another reader who was in the centre of Homiel did not notice anything out of the ordinary, the news outlet says. A subscriber of the Flagshtok Telegram channel stated that the blasts and flashes had taken place in the period from 12.25 a.m. until 12.32 a.m.
The Belarusian Defence Ministry maintains that the blasts were caused by the “ignition of equipment” during engine replacement. “Due to the requests received by the Ministry of Defence regarding the flashes in the area of Zyabrovka of the Homiel region, we report that on 10 August, at about 23:00, ignition of one of the equipment units took place during a test run following engine replacement. The military personnel took timely measures to extinguish it. No one was injured,” the ministry stated.
Earlier, Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Department of the Ukrainian General Staff Oleksiy Gromov stated that Belarus had handed over the Zyabrovka airfield under the control of the Russian forces. He added that there are Iskander-M and S-400 missile systems divisions deployed at the airfield.
Russia and Belarus are holding military drills with the participation of air defence and airspace forces from 9 August until 25 August. The first stage (9 August-11 August) is held in Belarus, while the second (22 August-25 August) will be held in Russia’s Astrakhan region.
