Drone Relay Stations in Belarus Go Offline Following Zelensky’s Ultimatum Drone relay stations in Belarus have gone dark — but whether that means de‑escalation, bluff, or backroom deal-making is anyone’s guess.

Kyiv: Ultimatum delivered, result achieved

From Ukraine’s perspective, this is a rare clear win in a murky cross‑border tech war. Zelensky says the relay stations on the Belarus–Ukraine border that had been helping guide Russian drones “went offline on June 22,” after he gave Alexander Lukashenko one week to remove them or see them destroyed by Ukraine. Ukrainian reports say the repeaters “used for strikes on Ukraine have stopped working,” and border guards now note fewer Russian drones transiting from Belarusian airspace.

The message from Kyiv: Belarus can’t claim neutrality while hosting hardware that enables Russian long‑range drone attacks on Ukrainian cities.

Minsk: Public silence, private squeeze

Belarusian authorities have offered no public confirmation, no photos of dismantled gear, not even a token denial. That silence speaks volumes about Lukashenko’s bind. He has repeatedly vowed not to be “drawn further into the Russia–Ukraine conflict,” warning that Belarus is “completely exposed to the Ukrainian military” and that its key infrastructure would be vulnerable if the war came home.

If Minsk quietly throttled the stations, it would fit Lukashenko’s survival playbook: concede just enough to avoid a Ukrainian strike, without openly crossing Moscow.

Moscow: Pressure without payoff — for now

Russia, meanwhile, is accused of using financial leverage to pull Belarus deeper into the war, seeking to expand drone strikes, divert Ukrainian forces from Donbas, and even stage operations against NATO neighbors. For the Kremlin, Belarusian relay stations are part of a wider plan to turn its ally into a forward operating platform.

The outage, then, is more than a technical glitch: it’s a snapshot of a three‑way struggle in which Ukraine wields ultimatums, Russia wields money, and Lukashenko is running out of room to pretend he can please them both.