The helicopter indeed crossed the Polish border, but it’s not clear whose helicopter it was

Belarusian Hajun checked the information. Here’s what we found out

Yesterday, the State Border Committee of Belarus said that a Polish Mi-24 helicopter violated the border and allegedly flew 1200 meters into Belarus. Further, the Polish Charge d’Affaires was summoned to the MFA.

Location of the helicopter in the video of the State Border Committee of Belarus Belarusian Hajun

Later, spokesperson for the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces Jacek Goryszewski called these accusations “false” and said it was a “provocation.”

“I can unequivocally refute it. The information published by the Belarusian side is a provocation and false accusations. From all the reports and records of radar systems, we can state that the border was not crossed from our side,” he said.

Belarusian Hajun checked the information. Here’s what we found out:

The video of the State Border Committee of Belarus could indeed be filmed on the Belarus-Poland border on September 1 at around 16:00. It was filmed from the Belarusian side from an autogyro (EW-386BS), which was patrolling the border at that time.

Location and time of shooting of the video of the State Border Committee of Belarus Belarusian Hajun

Probably, the helicopter was spotted by accident. The autogyro was just patrolling the southern, not northern part of the border near Hrodna.

Filmed from an autogyro of the Belarusian border guards Belarusian Hajun

It’s impossible to determine the exact model of the helicopter in the video, not even speaking about whose it was.

Yes, Poland indeed has Soviet Mi-24 helicopters, and although most of them have already been sent to Ukraine, at least one was redeployed to Bialystok in August to reinforce the Polish border.

Mi-24 of the Polish Air Force in Bialystok Belarusian Hajun

However, the Belarusian Air Force also has Mi-24 helicopters.

One of Mi-24 helicopters of the Belarusian Air Force Belarusian Hajun

According to our data, no fighter-interceptors or anything similar were in the air. And this should have been done when an attack helicopter illegally crosses the border. As for yesterday’s aviation activity, it was related only to the CSTO drills and ended by 14:00.

In total, we can now distinguish two versions of what happened:

1. A Polish helicopter, most likely Mi-24, indeed flew into the territory of Belarus.

2. As it’s impossible to identify the model of the helicopter and to whom it belongs by photos and a video, it’s possible that it was not Polish, but Belarusian helicopter that crossed the border: the statements of Poland and the absence of takeoffs of interceptors of the Belarusian Air Force confirm this version.