Belarus downs Russian drone over its airspace, monitoring group says

The Belarusian Air Force downed a Russian Shahed-type drone over the country's Homel Oblast overnight on Oct. 20, the monitoring group Belarusian Hajun reported.

The incident marks just the third time a Belarusian aircraft has downed a drone that entered its airspace.

According to the monitoring group, three Russian attack drones entered Belarus' southern territory beginning around 12:30 a.m. local time.

Aircraft were scrambled to intercept the drone around 1 a.m. near the town of Yelsk in Homel Oblast, where residents reported hearing sounds of explosions.

Ukraine's Air Force reported downing 31 of the 51 attack drones that Russia launched overnight. The Air Force added that 13 drones were lost from Ukraine's radar overnight.

In early September, Belarus' military confirmed the downing of a drone over its territory on for the first time since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Minsk has never publicly raised objections to Moscow – its key ally – over the reported drone incidents.

According to Belarusian Hajun, there have been multiple cases of Russian Shahed-type drones flying off course to Belarus over the past few months as drone attacks intensify.

Ukraine says it struck airfield and ‘largest explosives factory’ in Russia

The source told the Kyiv Independent the drones targeted the large state-owned Sverdlov Plant in the city of Dzerzhinsk in the Nizhny Novgorod region, some 900 kilometers deep into Russia.

The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk