Bykhov district. A former nuclear weapons storage facility.

Not far from Bykhov, in the depths of the Mogilev region forest, time seemed to have stopped in the era of the Cold War. Here, among the century-old pine trees, is one of the most sinister and interesting abandoned facilities in Belarus - the former repair and technical base (RTB) for storing nuclear weapons, known as the "YAD" facility or military unit 25852.

The facility was built in 1957 and was the "heart" of the 57th Naval missile-carrying Aviation Division of the Baltic Fleet, based at the nearby airfield in Bykhov-1. The division's task was very clear: in the event of a war, to wipe out NATO aircraft carriers in the Baltic Sea. For this purpose, the Tu-16 strategic bombers and later the supersonic Tu-22M2 capable of carrying nuclear charges were in service.

The secret arsenal.

The "YAD" facility is not just a warehouse, but a powerful engineering and technical complex. The base, also known as the 24th Army Arsenal, included everything necessary for working with "products" (as the warheads were called in the documents): two large buried storage bunkers with a powerful concrete floor, assembly and assembly shops for routine maintenance and fuel depots.

All the facilities are connected by concrete roads to the airfield, from where the planes were on round-the-clock combat duty.

Formidable security.

It was impossible to get to the base by accident. Barbed wire was installed around the perimeter of the territory (about 20 km), and round-the-clock surveillance was conducted. Suffice it to say that even the usual hermetic doors on the bunkers weighed up to 40 tons - they could not be hacked or moved by conventional means.

Present tense: rust and silence.

Today, the "YAD" facility is completely abandoned. After the collapse of the USSR and the implementation of disarmament treaties in the 90s, the missile carriers were relocated to Russia (mainly to Engels), and the nuclear warheads were taken out for disposal.

Now desolation and silence reign here, broken only by the noise of the forest. Looters and hunters of non-ferrous metal have done their job: most of the metal structures, including the legendary skins of 40-ton hermetic caves, have been sawn down and scrapped. Inside the underground shelters, only bare concrete walls and powerful shafts remained.

Ironically, some of the buildings of the former RTB are now used for peaceful purposes. While the airfield sometimes becomes a drag racing site, some of the former nuclear arsenals have been converted into poultry farms. War has finally given way to life. Nevertheless, bunkers in the forest still attract stalkers and history buffs, reminding of how close the world once was to a nuclear catastrophe.