{"id":1057445,"date":"2026-06-29T12:11:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T12:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1057445\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T12:11:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T12:11:49","slug":"drone-relayers-off-ukraines-diplomatic-triumph-over-russia-ally-belarus-russia-ukraine-war-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1057445\/","title":{"rendered":"Drone relayers off: Ukraine\u2019s diplomatic triumph over Russia ally Belarus | Russia-Ukraine war News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kyiv, Ukraine \u2013<\/strong> It was, perhaps, Ukraine\u2019s quietest victory over Russia\u2019s oldest and closest ally.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged neighbouring Belarus to shut down four Moscow-installed relay stations that help guide Russian drone attacks on Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

The border between Ukraine and Belarus stretches for 1,084km (674 miles), mostly across swamps and Europe\u2019s largest and densest forests.<\/p>\n

The stations \u2013 originally cellular communication towers \u2013 relay signals for Russian drone operators and allow their unmanned aircraft to exchange information with each other and fly deep into western Ukraine, which has few drone interceptors and NATO-supplied air defence systems.<\/p>\n

The relayers did \u201cmake the signal stronger\u201d and the Russian attacks \u201cmore precise\u201d, Andriy Pronin, one of the pioneers of drone warfare in Ukraine, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said on June 19 that Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko allowed Russia to run \u201cequipment that corrects fire on Ukrainian civilians, specifically civilians\u201d.<\/p>\n

And then he issued an ultimatum that reflects Kyiv\u2019s newfound assertiveness.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think one week will be enough\u201d for Lukashenko to remove the relayers, Zelenskyy said. \u201cIf he doesn\u2019t do that, we will.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018A barking dog doesn\u2019t bite\u2019<\/p>\n

With its heavy bomber drones and missiles, Kyiv is capable of striking Belarus, a country about a third of the size of Ukraine whose air defence systems are too obsolete to effectively repel drone attacks.<\/p>\n

The commander of Ukraine\u2019s drone forces was far less diplomatic than Zelenskyy.<\/p>\n

\u201cA barking dog doesn\u2019t bite,\u201d Robert Browdy wrote on Facebook, referring to Lukashenko. \u201cThe first 500 targets [in Belarus] have been marked. A free and very practical advice \u2013 get out of Ukraine\u2019s sight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lukashenko, an ex-collective farm manager who became one of the world\u2019s longest-ruling leaders and has helmed his nation of 10 million people since 1994, hinted that he may retaliate by targeting the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant.<\/p>\n

The site of the world\u2019s largest nuclear disaster sits in a forested, cordoned-off exclusion zone next to the Belarusian border \u2013 and less than 100km (62 miles) north of Kyiv.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have one goal, a serious one, with exact coordinates and not far from Belarus at all,\u201d Lukashenko said in televised remarks.<\/p>\n

But by Thursday, he quietly had shut down the relayers, Zelenskyy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether they were dismantled or not, I honestly don\u2019t know,\u201d the Ukrainian president said during a news conference. \u201cBut we\u2019re working on it. The fact is that the relayers don\u2019t work for now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last Russian drone crossed the Belarusian-Ukrainian border on Sunday, Flagstock, an independent Belarusian publication, reported, quoting residents of border regions.<\/p>\n

Lukashenko explained the shutdown as a peacemaking step \u2013 and tried to assure the Kremlin that he is always on its side.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told [Ukrainian negotiators] directly, \u2018Boys, you go tell your president that if he thinks he can talk to us this way and force us into the war, then he has to understand that the quality of the war will change momentarily. It will be an absolutely different war,\u201d Lukashenko was quoted by his country\u2019s state-run news agency, Belta, as saying.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur position is about peace. But in any situation, we will be next to Russia,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to a Belarus-born, Kyiv-based analyst, Zelenskyy\u2019s ultimatum worked.<\/p>\n

\u201cUkraine deliberately ups its ante in its dialogue with Belarus,\u201d Ihar Tyshkevich told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

Apart from removing the immediate threat from drone attacks, it may herald a separate track in Ukraine\u2019s negotiations with Belarus.<\/p>\n

The talks may help Lukashenko \u201cexit\u201d Belarus\u2019s diplomatic and economic isolation by the West and \u201cbalance Russia\u2019s influence\u201d, Tyshkevich said.<\/p>\n

Lukashenko is one of the members of United States President Donald Trump\u2019s Board of Peace, which may play a role in rebuilding post-war Ukraine.<\/p>\n

But Kyiv would have its own list of demands before allowing Belarusian companies to take part in the restoration and letting Belarusian goods such as petrol, foodstuffs and construction materials back in.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Ukraine, it\u2019s a matter of Lukashenko\u2019s responsibility for the war and the defence of Ukraine\u2019s interests,\u201d Tyshkevich said.<\/p>\n

The shutdown is Lukashenko\u2019s \u201cattempt to find an indirect compromise\u201d with Kyiv, according to Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Kyiv-based Penta think tank.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a concession to Zelenskyy\u2019s ultimatum but not a public one, not an official one,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\"INTERACTIVE-WHO(Al Jazeera)<\/p>\n

Moscow could be disappointed by Lukashenko caving in, but it has so far not commented on it.<\/p>\n

Russia \u201cundoubtedly saw it as a manifestation of Lukashenko\u2019s weakness\u201d, Fesenko said.<\/p>\n

However, Russia \u201cis not ready to help him, including because it lacks military resources\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Zelenskyy\u2019s ultimatum \u201cabsolutely aggressive\u201d and added that Russian President Vladimir Putin would \u201csoon\u201d discuss it with Lukashenko.<\/p>\n

A day later, Lukashenko travelled to Moscow to meet with Putin. The Kremlin did not hold a news conference and did not release any information about their meeting.<\/p>\n

Moscow has been urging Belarus to take part in the war since its beginning, but Lukashenko repeatedly refused while managing to demand more political and economic concessions from Russia.<\/p>\n

In late May, he and Putin presided<\/a> over joint military drills that \u201crehearsed\u201d the use of Russia\u2019s nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n

As part of the drills, Moscow supplied Minsk with modified Su-25 fighter jets, Iskander-M ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons that are reportedly stored less than 200km (124 miles) north of the Ukrainian border.<\/p>\n

A Belarusian shift as Russia\u2019s front-line woes grow<\/p>\n

Lukashenko\u2019s change of tone heralds Kyiv\u2019s success in slowing down Moscow\u2019s offensive and destroying oil terminals, refineries, fuel depots and supply routes in Russia and Russia-occupied Ukrainian regions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s significant is that now Ukraine acts from the position of power and Lukashenko has to reckon with it,\u201d Fesenko said.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian drones, for instance, could within hours kill his golden goose \u2013 the Mozyr and Novopolotsk oil refineries.<\/p>\n

Built in the Soviet Union\u2019s waning days, they process discounted Russian crude \u2013 and Lukashenko sells the production in Eastern Europe and Russia.<\/p>\n

The fuel supplies have become vital for Moscow in recent weeks as every Russian region experiences petrol shortages<\/a> after Ukrainian drone attacks.<\/p>\n

Eastern European nations have long been tired of Lukashenko\u2019s political escapades.<\/p>\n

In 2021, he allowed thousands of refugees and migrants, mostly from the Middle East and North Africa, to arrive in Belarus and cross into Poland and Lithuania in a move that was widely seen as a response to Western sanctions.<\/p>\n

The European Union\u2019s executive arm, the European Commission, said on June 22 that Zelenskyy\u2019s ultimatum affirms \u201cUkraine\u2019s right to self-defence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kyiv, Ukraine \u2013 It was, perhaps, Ukraine\u2019s quietest victory over Russia\u2019s oldest and closest ally. Ukrainian President Volodymyr…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1057446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7654],"tags":[1111,2000,299,12,332,7661,657],"class_list":["post-1057445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ukraine","tag-belarus","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-news","tag-russia","tag-russia-ukraine-war","tag-ukraine"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116833338426995706","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1057445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1057446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1057445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1057445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1057445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}