Russia’s recent drone strikes on western Ukraine were supported by relays located on Belarusian territory. Head of Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service Andrii Demchenko said this.
“We see that Belarus continues to support the terrorist state, because even these air strikes that targeted the Rivne, Volyn and Lviv regions were effectively supported from Belarusian territory, since the aerial assets launched by Russia were also supplied with signals through relays located precisely in that country,” Demchenko said.
The head of the State Border Guard Service noted that Ukraine is still not detecting an increase in Russian strike forces in Belarus along the border with Ukraine, but that the overall threat remains.
“Overall, the threat from Belarus remains. And not only through such demonstrative actions, including military ones and so on, but Belarus is once again providing Russia with the ability to strike our territory,” Demchenko said.
It should be recalled that in June, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave Aliaksandr Lukashenka one week to switch off relays used by Russian drones, warning that otherwise Ukraine would destroy them itself. Several days later, Zelenskyy said the relays had been switched off. On June 30, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Belarus had switched on one relay but would not do so again.
In mid-July, Ukrainian Defense Minister’s adviser Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov suggested that Russia could continue to use relays in Belarus from time to time to direct attack drones.
Last week, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry Oleh Ivashchenko said that the relays in Belarus had resumed operating.
