A court in Minsk sentenced a dozen individuals to prison terms of between two and 25 years on Friday for helping commit what Belarus has called an "act of terrorism" at a military airfield outside the capital last year.

The Minsk City Court sentenced 12 people to prison over sabotage of the Machulishchy military airfield in Belarus last year, the Viasna human rights group said on Oct. 4. Some of the sentences were handed down in absentia.

Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed President of Belarus, has said that he knows that Russian UAVs are flying into his country, but he attributes this to "inexperienced hands" and the operation of electronic warfare equipment.

Three Shahed drones flew into Belarusian airspace on Oct. 3 as Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko was traveling by helicopter over the country, according to the monitoring group Belaruski Hajun.

Shahed drones crossed into Belarusian airspace from Ukraine while dictator Alexander Lukashenko was in flight.