Скриншот: flagshtok.info
Satellite imagery indicates that earthworks have continued in the Mstsislau district, an area that authorities are considering as one of the possible sites for a radioactive waste disposal facility. “Flagshtok” reported this, analyzing satellite imagery data for the period from September 2025 to September 2026.
The outlet had previously published information about work at the Mstsislau site. In response, the Belarusian Organization for Radioactive Waste Management (BelRAO) said that the photographs and videos being circulated showed surveys of the area conducted as part of an assessment of its suitability for the construction of a radioactive waste disposal facility.
BelRAO said the surveys were completed in May 2026 and that no work under the radioactive waste disposal facility project was currently being carried out at the site.
“Flagshtok” decided to check this claim against satellite imagery.
“BelRAO failed to take into account that the analysis of satellite images is now available to everyone interested. Using the Copernicus Browser service, it is possible to verify the statements of the specialists responsible for radioactive waste disposal in Belarus,” the authors wrote.
For its analysis, the outlet used images from Sept. 29, 2025, to Sept. 8, 2026, and prepared an animation based on them. According to the resource, the first changes at the site were visible as early as September 2025. At that time, a trench appeared in the central part of the site along a local road.
Satellites recorded more extensive changes in March 2026. The work was carried out in an area with numerous suffosion sinkholes, which were presumably filled in and the terrain leveled. In winter, traces of heavy machinery were particularly visible on the snow. The images also show, according to the outlet, work to fill in a ditch along an unnamed stream in the area of the proposed radioactive waste disposal facility, the report said.
In subsequent months, work continued mainly in the northern part of the area under consideration, about two kilometers from the proposed construction site. According to “Flagshtok,” signs of disturbance to the vegetation cover were recorded until the end of August 2026.
Thus, according to the outlet, the May deadline for completion of the work stated by BelRAO does not match the changes visible in satellite imagery.
“This animation refutes the organization’s statement and points to a possible large-scale operation to misinform the citizens of Belarus. It is noteworthy that this is not the first attempt to explain the construction work underway. State agencies now insist that the satellite images show land reclamation work. But they do not explain why this work began precisely in the area of the possible construction of the radioactive waste disposal facility at one of the three sites under consideration,” the authors said.
The outlet noted that it had been unable to find similar work in other parts of the Mstsislau district during the same period.
“At the same time, we note that there is currently no substantiated explanation for the large-scale work north of the proposed site for the radioactive waste disposal facility. The nature of the work could be clarified by detailed high-resolution satellite images or ground-level footage by independent journalists, but such materials are not currently available,” the authors concluded.