Russian Soldiers Tried To Capture Gas Station Near Homel

Little-known stories of the first months of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Today marks a year since the Russian Federation attacked Ukraine from the territory of Belarus. On February 24, 2022, due to the repressions of the Lukashenka regime, there were practically no independent journalists left in our country, so information about military events in the Homel region became available thanks to ordinary citizens.

Flagstaff has prepared a selection of little-known and high-profile stories related to the actions of the Russian military in the Homel region. All citizens' comments are anonymous, as their authors may be subject to persecution by the Lukashenka regime.

The Dead House of an Airport

The harbinger of war was the departure of the Russian carrier Nordwind Airlines from the Homel airport. In early December 2021, the company canceled Homel-Moscow-Homel flights without explanation. In January 2022, the airport began to receive military transport aircraft, as well as ships of the command of the Russian Aerospace Forces.

A Flagstaff source familiar with the situation said that on February 21, the airport completely came under the control of the Russian military.

“Customs, border guards, who were based there, were sent on vacation. All civilian personnel have been sent on a two-week leave”.

According to Flagstaff’s source in the health department of the Homel region, on February 28, a hospital was equipped on the territory of the Homel airport to provide medical assistance to the Russian military and to store corpses. The killed and wounded Russian soldiers were housed in the airport buildings. They were taken out on Il-76 military transport aircraft to the Russian Federation.

Numerous photographs and videos of military equipment leaving the airport indicate that in addition to transporting “cargo 200” and “cargo 300”, armored vehicles and ammunition were delivered through the Homel airfield for the needs of the aggressor army.

In addition, the airport was used for launching drones for reconnaissance and missile strikes on the territory of Ukraine.

In the first days of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, Flagstaff readers reported about the detentions of employees of the Homel airport by the security forces. This information was not confirmed.

Shelling of Ukraine from the gardens of Belarusian border villages

On the morning of February 24, shelling of the territory of Ukraine was carried out directly from the gardens of the border villages of the Homel and Dobrush regions, the territory of the Chernobyl zone. The shelling preceded the ground invasion of the Russian military.

The sounds of shooting were heard in Dobrush and the border villages from about 6 am to 8 am. Afterwards, local residents observed the movement of columns of Russian equipment in the direction of the Belarusian-Ukrainian border.

Flagstaff readers have reported that evacuations have begun in some border villages.

On the morning of February 24, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine confirmed information about attacks on Ukrainian border detachments and checkpoints in the Chernihiv and Zhytomyr regions using artillery, heavy equipment, and small arms.

At the same time, the authorities of the Homel region, through their channels, stated that “everything is quiet” in the border villages of the region. And in one of the publications, the Mayak newspaper of the Homel regional executive committee they said that “in the Markavichy village council bordering Ukraine, people and institutions live and work as usual.” Photos from the village were attached to the publication, on which traces of tracks of military equipment were visible.

Drunk Russian soldiers tried to capture a Belarusian gas station

On April 9, 2022, the police used weapons to stop a Russian UAZ near Rechytsa — the car had a punctured tire. The jeep was without registration numbers and with the marking of the Russian aggressors in the form of the letter “V”.

Flagstaff's source, familiar with the situation, said that there were soldiers in the car in a state of intoxication.

Another Flagstaff source reported a similar incident after some time. Around the same time, at the exit from Homel to Rechytsa, two drunken Russian soldiers tried to buy alcohol at one of the gas stations, threatening the saleswoman with weapons.

“She pressed the panic button. The security department arrived and the orcs started aiming at them. The riot police were called and only then, it seems, they managed to restrain them”.

The official bodies of Belarus did not publish any information about such incidents.

On February 15, 2023, the head of the traffic police of the Homel region announced the “peak accident rate” at the beginning of 2022 — this is the time of the mass movement of Russian military equipment in the Homel region during the Russian offensive against Ukraine and the subsequent retreat. At least two accidents involving Russian military equipment in 2022 were fatal: on December 28, resident of Homel Siarhei Kalamiyets died; on April 1, a resident of Rechytsa Dzianis Radchanka died. In its reports, the Ministry of Internal Affairs does not inform about bringing military drivers to responsibility for road accidents.

Did the Russian military get radiation sickness near Chernobyl?

Local residents of the settlements bordering Ukraine told Flagstaff that before the offensive, many among the Russian military did not know where they were brought:

“They were very surprised when they found out that they were in Belarus. They went, for example, to Brahin, Khoiniki, and when they found out that this was the Chernobyl zone, they cursed. They were indignant: “Imagine that, from the Far East to Chernobyl.” They said that they fought in the Donbas and in Syria, that they were waiting for an order to “bash those Ukes”.

On February 24, the Russian military from the territory of the Homel region invaded Ukraine and captured the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This has led to huge risks. On February 25, Ukraine lost control of the automatic system for monitoring the radiation situation.

Having failed the attack on Ukraine, on March 31, the Russian military left the territory of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Sanitary PAZ vehicles near the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Radiation Medicine and Human Ecology in Homel

The first rumors that Russian soldiers were irradiated in Chernobyl appeared at the end of March after the publication of photos with Russian sanitary PAZs near the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Radiation Medicine and Human Ecology in Homel. Flagstaff’s source from the healthcare system denied this information, since the arrival of the special transport was associated with the delivery of wounded Russian soldiers, who were then treated at the Republican Scientific and Practical Center, as well as the corpses of Russian soldiers to a temporary morgue on the territory of a medical institution.

“When [the Russian military] enters the RSPC, they don’t take radiation indicators, they don’t interview the military, and tests for radiation exposure are not checked in laboratories,” the source said.

However, on April 12, the same source reported that 22 Russian servicemen were delivered to the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for a special examination, two of them had symptoms of radiation exposure. They underwent a specialized examination. It was reported that the KGB “worked” in the medical institution.

Later, Flagstaff tried to find out about the fate of the soldiers, who supposedly could have received radiation. A specialist from the healthcare system said that the examination of the military “was personally carried out on the apparatus by doctors of the Russian Federation, the results were not entered into a unified database”, thus, the results remained unknown.

As for those hospitalized with signs of radiation exposure, they probably referred to those soldiers who were near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant during the occupation of the Ukrainian border. After the retreat of the Russian Federation, it became known about the fortifications that the Russian military dug right in the “Red Forest” — the most polluted place in the entire exclusion zone. It was reported that fires occurred in this zone, and the military could receive significant doses of radiation.