Today Belarus MFA stated that they allegedly shot down a “Ukrainian drone” that crossed Belarus territory. According to them, it was conducting reconnaissance in the area of the Brestsky training ground. They also provided a photo of the allegedly mentioned drone.
We talked to our experts, the active Ukrainian military, and they immediately said that the drone in the photo is not Ukraine’s and that those they ever dealt with do not ever have this front screw, which is clearly visible in the photo of the Belarus MFA. Below is an example of modern Ukrainian drones.
Our experts also noted that the UAV in the photo provided by Belarus resembles a Russian drone, Orlan-10 in particular – in general appearance, as well as a propeller in the front (nose) and in the way the wings come out of the top of the fuselage. It is also interesting that in the photo the drone is hugely dipped in snow – so it is difficult to assess its real size and shape and how it looks below the propeller. Potentially, this could have been done on purpose to hide the similarities with Orlan-10.
You can also find a photo of the Ukrainian drone Spectator, which was posted by Donetchanin in his telegram-channel, – supposedly it is this kind of drone that we Belarus was talking about (however, we didn’t findmentioning about this in the Belarus MFA statement ). But even if we compare it with the drone in the provided picture, then, as our expert said, “the similarity is zero.” The first thing are the wings: they come out of the fuselage. Spectatora have them just below the highest part of the fuselage, and the alleged shot drone – as well as Orlan-10 – have the wings coming out of the highest part of the fuselage.
“Spectator”
One more thing: according to Belarus MFA, drone was shot down on January 24. But they reported it only now – on February 3 – allegedly because they were conducting a “detailed analysis” of the drone data. Whole 10 days. But when drone is this well saved – that is, not actually damaged – the data check take 15 minutes or so. All that is needed to determine which country the drone belongs to is the brand of the drone and its identification code or the manufacturer (it can found, as in the case of Orlan-10, for example, on the wing of the drone).
So our experts do not rule out that it was actually a Russian drone that was shot down in Belarus (or presented as shot down), which they are now trying to pass off as Ukrainian in order to accuse Ukraine and to escalate the conflict.
Using the code, you can find both the manufacturer and the country that ordered the drone. This does not take 10 days. Целых 10 дней.
We continue to monitor Russian troops’ movement on Ukraine’s border. If you have any information on the topic that you want to share, send it to us via an email to [email protected] or send us a message on our social media pages. Если у вас есть любая информация по теме, которой вы хотите поделиться — присылайте нам на почту [email protected] или отправляйте нам сообщением на наши страницы в соцсетях.