Russian pilots talk about launching airstrikes on Ukraine from Belarusian airspace: Report

Belarusian media has published the transcripts of intercepted conversations between Russian military pilots and dispatchers on June 25 when Moscow launched missiles from Belarus’ airspace. Ukrayinska Pravda cited the transcripts published by Belarusian journalist Anton Motolko which revealed Russian pilots discussing how they are launching missiles from their planes on Ukraine as the war between Moscow and Kyiv continues for over four months. 

Additionally, they also discuss coordinating the missile launches and their course within the Belarusian airspace first in the direction of the Ukrainian border, and then back to their bases at airfields in Russia, as per the report.

While Belarus has publicly denied backing the Russian army in attacking Ukraine, the intercepted conversations are those of the pilots who flew Russian planes from airfields in Seshcha, which is an air base near Dubrovka, Bryansk Oblast, Russia and Shaykovka, another air base in Kaluga Oblast, Russia.

According to the transcripts,  the Russians used Tu-22M3 bombers that took off from the base in Shaykovka in the Kaluga region, and Su-34 and Su-35 fighters that took off from the Seshcha airfield in the Bryansk region. Both planes launched X-32 and X-59MK missiles at the territory of Lviv, Zhytomyr, Kyiv and Chernihiv oblasts, as per the report.

On June 25, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had also said that three oblasts of his war-ravaged nation had come under Russia’s attack. He had also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces had fired at least 45 missiles at several cities. In another major escalation of the ongoing war, Russia struck a residential building on June 26 which was near a kindergarten in Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi district killing six people. 

'We will find you': Zelenskyy warns Russian pilots

Zelenskyy had even warned the Russian pilots after Moscow’s forces shelled Kyiv and said, “we will find you”. In the daily nightly address on Sunday, Zelenskyy said “All pilots, dispatchers must understand that we will find you” while adding that “Judgement awaits you all”. Ukrainian President termed the shelling of residential buildings in Kyiv the act of war crime. 

It is to mention that as many as four explosions devasted the war-torn nation’s capital city, which was also the first such attack in weeks. Additionally, he also called for more powerful weapons to be delivered to Ukraine to deter Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine which has continued unabated since February 24. 

After the weekend which witnessed heightened attacks from Russia across Ukraine, Zelenskyy said in his nighttime address, that he called for “powerful” air defence while decrying Moscow’s attacks in Kyiv, Mykolaiv region, the Chernihiv region, Odesa, Cherkasy. He noted that the mortar shelling “did not stop in the Kharkiv region.

Image: AP