Belarus relay shutdown lowers Russian drone threat to Kyiv
Ukrainian interceptor drone (Photo: REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko)
After drone control relay stations in Belarus were shut
down, Russia can longer threat Kyiv with precise, controlled in real-time
UAV strikes, Ukrainian Defense Ministry adviser Serhii Beskrestnov said on June
25
He said the attacks will certainly continue, but they will no longer be manually piloted to strike high-value mobile targets.
“They will be standard Shahed attacks using GPS coordinates,” Beskrestnov told Suspilne public broadcaster.
“There will be no reconnaissance. That is very important, because the Russians not only attack us in real time thanks to these [mesh] networks — they conduct extensive reconnaissance, looking for our infrastructure, our air defenses and so on. There will be no real-time attacks on train locomotives, or on air defenses.”
He added that without a stable radio channel and a mesh network it becomes harder for Russia to find corridors for drones to pass through gaps in Ukrainian air defense layers.
Ukraine has detected four relay stations on Belarusian territory, he said. One was located near the border, close to Slavutych.
“So all the reconnaissance UAVs that flew over Kyiv were
being controlled from that facility in Belarus,” said Beskrestnov.
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