Ukraine Halts Drone Relays
Belarusian Drone Relay Stations Go Offline After Ukraine's Ultimatum to Cease Russian Support
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Key Points
1
Ukrainian intelligence identified the relay installations in the Homiel and Brest regions of Belarus.
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The signal repeaters ceased operating exactly three days after Zelensky publicly warned on June 19 that Minsk must remove the equipment or Ukraine would act.
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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has not publicly commented on Zelensky's ultimatum or the reported shutdown of the relay stations.
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As of June 21, Belarusian authorities had not yet responded to Ukraine's demand to shut down the relay stations.
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Ukrainian officials say there is currently no strike force on the Belarus border prepared for an invasion.
Signal relay stations in Belarus used to guide Russian drone strikes stopped working on June 22, three days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a public ultimatum demanding their removal. The Kyiv Independent reported that Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi and Ukraine's intelligence services confirmed the shutdown after signals from the relay towers went silent.
Ukrainian Border Guard spokesperson Andrii Demchenko confirmed a significant drop in Shahed drone activity over the Chernihiv region and said there had been no mass drone flights along the Belarus–Ukraine border in recent days, according to Ukrainska Pravda. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has not publicly commented on the shutdown.
Zelenskyy's Seven-Day Ultimatum Produces Results
On June 19, Zelenskyy gave Minsk a seven-day deadline to remove or disable four Russian relay systems in Belarus's Homiel and Brest regions. He warned: "If you don't, we will." The equipment ceased operating just three days later, on June 22 — well inside the deadline, according to Meduza.
Zelenskyy said the ultimatum followed a "long process" of private warnings through intelligence channels that Minsk had ignored. As of June 21, Belarus had still not officially responded to Ukraine's demand, Ukrinform reported. The Kremlin's Dmitry Peskov condemned the ultimatum as "aggression" and a violation of Belarusian sovereignty.
How Russian Drones Used Belarusian Cell Towers to Strike Ukraine
The relay stations were not built from scratch. Russia mounted equipment on existing Belarusian civilian cell towers to create long-range guidance networks for drones. Ukrainian hackers gained access to Russian drone operator accounts between mid-2025 and February 2026 and uncovered the scheme, according to Euromaidan Press.
The stations formed two-way video communication networks. Drones like the Geran and Gerbera — slow-flying, GPS-guided loitering munitions — need ground-based "mother" stations to stay on course over hundreds of kilometers. The four relay sites enabled precise strikes on energy and railway infrastructure in Ukraine's Zhytomyr, Rivne, and Volyn regions, Meduza reported.
Lukashenko Caught Between Moscow and Kyiv's Threats
Lukashenko had shown rare conciliatory moves before the crisis. On June 12 he offered an unusual "apology" to Zelenskyy in an interview with Al Arabiya, and by June 15 he was suggesting a possible meeting to discuss border security, according to European Pravda. But his government continued hosting Russian military infrastructure throughout.
Analysts told Meduza the shutdown may be a tactical retreat to avoid Ukrainian strikes on Belarusian soil rather than a permanent fix. Ukraine has identified 500 military targets inside Belarus, according to Responsible Statecraft. Zelenskyy warned Ukraine will take "independent action" if the equipment is reactivated.
What the Shutdown Means for Northern Ukraine's Air Defense
Ukrainian border guards were destroying between 95 and 98 drones per day in the northern sectors as of late June 2026, according to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. Without the relay stations, Russia must use longer, less efficient flight paths for its Shahed drones — paths that give Ukrainian air defenses more time to detect and intercept them, The Kyiv Independent reported.
Ukraine is monitoring the four sites daily. Officials stressed there is no strike force massed on the Belarusian border and the current goal is not military escalation. But Zelenskyy left little ambiguity: if the hardware comes back online, Ukraine says it will act on its own to remove it.
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