Zelensky Claims Belarus Relay Stations Went Offline After His Ultimatum Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says his threat worked; Moscow’s media says he’s hallucinating a win. Caught in the middle is Belarus — officially silent, but suddenly a lot quieter in the electromagnetic spectrum.

On the Ukrainian and opposition-aligned side, the narrative is straightforward: the pressure campaign forced a retreat. Meduza headlines that “relay stations in Belarus that helped guide Russian drone strikes on Ukraine went offline after his ultimatum to Lukashenko,” citing Zelensky’s claim that the systems stopped working on June 22, days after he warned Minsk to remove them or face Ukrainian action. Another outlet bluntly reports that “Belarusian repeaters used for strikes on Ukraine have stopped working,” underscoring Kyiv’s view that an immediate threat from the north has been blunted.

These reports lean on Ukrainian officials who say the shutdown has already changed realities on the ground: border guards have noted a drop in Russian strike drone flights over the Chernihiv region and no mass Shahed transits along the Belarus–Ukraine border, suggesting at least a tactical win for Ukraine’s air defenses.

The pro-government Russian narrative, by contrast, frames the whole episode as theatrical brinkmanship. RT’s take is that “Zelensky threatened Belarus – then declared victory out of thin air,” arguing there is “no evidence” the relay stations ever existed, let alone were dismantled, and that the world is simply “supposed to take Zelensky at his word.”

Where Kyiv’s allies see a calibrated show of resolve that may have deterred further attacks, Moscow’s media paints a leader inflating a non-event to project strength. Belarus, notably, has not confirmed anything at all — leaving the core question unanswered: did Lukashenko blink, or did Zelensky just sell the optics?