Belarus Is likely helping Russian drones attack Ukraine again
. / iStock/Olena Bartienieva
A Russian command-and-control station for Shahed drones attacking Ukraine has likely resumed operations in Belarus. However, it is now operating not near the Ukrainian border, but deeper inside Belarusian territory. This was stated by Serhiy 'Flash' Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense on defense technologies and an expert on drones and electronic warfare.
He recalled that several months ago Ukraine managed to stop the operation of Russian Shahed drone control points in Belarus. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke in February about the destruction of Russian relay transmitters in Belarus.
“By the end of winter, we had stopped the operation of Shahed control points from the territory of the Republic of Belarus. Since then, we had not recorded active attempts to restore the operation of these points. During the combined attack on May 13, we once again detected the operation of radio modems onboard Russian UAVs over our territory near the Belarusian border,” the Ukrainian expert said.
According to Beskrestnov, the distance from the drones to the Russian border is about 500 kilometers, making a direct control channel impossible. He also said that at such a distance, radio communication through a relay chain is impossible.
“I assume that the radio control point for Shaheds may again be operating from Belarusian territory, but now at a significant depth inside the country. So far, these are isolated cases. Ukraine’s Defense Forces are keeping this issue under control. We never take any measures without being 100% certain,” Beskrestnov added.
