Homel Flooded With Disguised Russian Soldiers

Preparations for the invasion of Ukraine are in full swing.

Putin's arrival in Belarus on December 19 actualized among the citizens the question of the possible full-scale participation of the Lukashenka regime in the war against Ukraine. To understand how this is possible today, Flagstaff collected information about military activities in the Homel region in December 2022.

Signing up for the territorial defense

Employees of large state-owned enterprises in the Homel region began to receive proposals from the leadership to join the territorial defense detachments that are being formed — so far only on paper. This was reported to Flagstaff by employees of two organizations (for security reasons, we cannot name them). The recruitment is “voluntary” in nature.

Employees of enterprises reacted to this initiative in different ways:

“There are two types of volunteers: patriots “For the Motherland” and comrades who are worried about their jobs — so they think that this is a test of loyalty. In two cases, these workers are “nearly 50” and older. Young people mostly ignore the topic,” says the source.

Military activities in the Homel region

The impending aggression against Ukraine from the territory of the Homel region will first of all be evidenced by the massive movement of military equipment — approximately in the same volume as in January-February 2022.

Residents of the city of Homel and the Homel region, who were interviewed by Flagstaff, do not notice the intensification of large-scale military movements:

“So far, all this does not look like someone will attack from here again. Before the war, there were tanks, artillery, helicopters flew, then the planes went. Everything is quiet now. If you don’t leave beyond the city borders, then you won’t notice anything strange.”

“In general, I only see a lot of cars with Russian numbers, but during the war they appear in “waves”: they come and go.”

At the same time, one of the Homel residents interviewed noticed an increase in the presence of the Russian military in Homel itself:

“In Homel, it is quite noticeable — the presence of “non-local” military men has increased. Equipment and speech are different. They are from disbanded units, and live throughout Homel. They don’t use public transport. When they buy food, they prefer to wear civilian clothes. The situation is somewhat reminiscent of the “Crimean seizure”.

An interviewed resident of Mazyr also noted an increase in the number of soldiers in the city:

“There are more soldiers in military uniform and in civilian clothes compared to the situation a month or two ago. But still, this is not the number that was in February-May. They go to shopping malls and cafes.”

Flagstaff tried to figure out why the Russian Federation left its military in Belarus in the areas bordering Ukraine.

According to the Belarusian Hajun monitoring group, on December 16, a column of medical vehicles of the RF Armed Forces was recorded in the Dobrush district. However, Flastaff’s source in the health department of the Homel region said that the preparation of the medical infrastructure in the health care institutions of the region for the possible reception of the dead and wounded military is not currently taking place.

The Homel airport, which during the offensive from the Belarusian territory in February-April 2022 became the transport hub of the Russian troops, remains minimally active. According to the Belarusian Hajun monitoring group, the Homel airport received only one flight during the month — the An-12 military transport aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces.

Individual movements of military equipment by rail were recorded. The community of railway workers of Belarus reported on the movement of a military train on December 20 to the Kalinkavichy station, and then to the Zhytkavichy station. It cannot be ruled out that this movement is taking place to exert information pressure on Ukraine — the train with Russian military equipment, which arrived on the same day at the Luninets station in the Brest region, a day later, without unloading, went back to Baranavichy.

Military bases of the Russian Federation in the region

The airfields near the village of Zyabrauka in the Homel region and Vialiki Bokau in the Mazyr district, where the Russian missile forces are located, continue to be a place of attraction for the troops of Russia and the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus. Around the airfield, cars with Russian tactical signs “V” are fixed, as well as cars without registration numbers and identification marks.

Radar satellite imagery shows that massive military equipment (missile systems or radars) are still present on the airfield in Zyabrauka, and signals from smaller types of weapons are also noticeable.

At the old airfield in the Mazyr district near the village of Vialiki Bokau, the presence of Russian weapons also remains.

Strengthening the border

A resident of the Homel region told Flagstaff that a checkpoint at the entrance to the Ukrainian border on the Chernihiv Highway (M-10) near the village of Studena Huta was recently liquidated. It appeared there to check the documents of those traveling towards the Ukrainian border in the spring of 2022.

The introduction of a ban on visiting the border strip in the Brahin, Loyeu and Khoiniki districts is a formal extension of the ban, effective from the end of May 2022.

On December 1, the Ministry of Forestry's ban on visiting the forests of the Homel region was lifted. Visiting the forests was closed at the request of the Ministry of Defense of Belarus in the spring of 2022.