Some drone repeaters in Belarus are operational again - Ukrainian intel chief
Photo: Oleh Ivashchenko (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Some repeaters for Russian drones on the territory of Belarus are operational again. At the same time, Ukraine has sufficient capabilities to deal with them, states Oleh Ivashchenko, the Chief of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (HUR), in an interview with The New York Times.
He noted that the Russian army still does not have a reliable equivalent of SpaceX's Starlink terminals, which the Armed Forces of Ukraine use for secure communications and drone control on the battlefield. To compensate for this, the enemy is deploying a network of towers and repeaters along the Ukrainian border.
The HUR chief said that Russia could use a network of numerous towers and repeaters along the border, adding that Ukrainian intelligence had identified six such repeaters on the territory of Belarus.
Ivashchenko noted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had previously warned Belarus against supporting attacks on the Ukrainian capital, otherwise Ukraine would launch a retaliatory strike. The HUR chief said that Kyiv is now forced to consider whether to strike Belarusian territory.
Ivashchenko said that the deployment of the repeaters had been halted for a certain period, but some of them were now operational again, adding that Ukraine had sufficient capabilities to deal with them.
Repeaters in Belarus
In June, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on self-proclaimed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to dismantle the repeaters.
The head of state gave him a week to do so, stressing that if there was no response, Ukraine would destroy the facilities itself.
Several days later, Belarusian media reported that Russian drones had stopped flying along the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. Later, Zelenskyy said that the repeaters were no longer operational.
Defense Minister's adviser Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov said that Russian forces were likely continuing to use repeaters in Belarus to launch drone attacks against Ukraine.
