June 20, 2026
/ obozrevatel.com
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has given Alexander Lukashenko a week to remove devices from the border area that help Russia target drones at Ukraine. Otherwise, the Ukrainian Armed Forces will remove them.
What devices are we talking about, and how will we know they’ve been destroyed? And if there’s no strike, what could that mean? Military expert and observer for the Information Resistance group, Alexander Kovalenko , answered these questions for Euroradio .
“I believe we’re talking about repeaters. They’ve been mentioned repeatedly. These repeaters are used to stabilize communications, as well as to provide communication for drones heading toward western Ukraine through the northern border and approaching Belarusian territory, ” the expert asserts.
How does a repeater work?
— When drones approach Belarusian territory, the communication channel on its side can be stabilized thanks to these repeaters.
This reduces the likelihood of the drone being suppressed by electronic warfare systems and allows the operator to maintain control over the drone until it reaches its target along the border, provided the communication channel is relayed through Belarusian territory, explains Kovalenko.
Where are these facilities located? Will the strike be deep within Belarus?
“These facilities are not located deep within Belarus. To ensure stable communications, they must be located in the border zone, ” the expert asserts.
“I believe the coordinates and locations of these repeaters are already known to the Ukrainian defense forces, and they can be neutralized.”
This also applies to reconnaissance equipment operating within Ukrainian territory, as well as other means that allow the Russian contingent located in Belarus to obtain the necessary information to study the location of Ukrainian units, their composition, capabilities, and so on, the analyst says.
Does Ukraine need to coordinate such a strike with its allies? Are we talking about targeted strikes or an invasion by Ukrainian forces?
“If this equipment continues to remain in the zone from which it can provide support for strikes on Ukrainian territory, including using Shahed-136 kamikaze drones, then Ukraine will make independent decisions regarding the destruction of both these repeaters and other technical assets that assist Russia.”
We will act independently. I think that’s exactly what was discussed: Ukraine will carry out targeted strikes on these targets.
We’re not talking about some large-scale military operation or anything like that. Ukraine has no intention of waging war on Belarusian territory against Belarus.
However, Ukraine is entirely capable of remotely neutralizing all threats located in Belarus that pose a danger to Ukraine. Technically and technologically, this is, in principle, entirely feasible, Kovalenko asserts.
How do we know when a blow has been struck?
If such a strike is carried out, it will either be officially reported by the Belarusian side, if they don’t try to hide it, or the Unmanned Systems Forces or the Ukrainian Defense Forces will officially announce it.
Since such strikes are captured on camera, verification will also be published—confirmation that the strike was effective and reached its target.
These materials will be published on one of the official resources: either the Unmanned Systems Forces, the Ukrainian Defense Forces, or the President of Ukraine directly. In other words, it will be an official statement from an authorized source, the expert explains.
And if the strike doesn’t happen, what will that mean?
There are two possible options. The first is that Lukashenko has indeed withdrawn these systems from the Ukrainian border, and they are no longer used to provide technical and technological support for Russian strikes.
Second, certain agreements could have been reached regarding the use of these resources. And even if they weren’t shut down or withdrawn, they could have been switched to a different operating mode.
In any case, this mode will be monitored: whether it is used to support airstrikes on Ukrainian territory or for domestic missions. Such repeaters, depending on their configuration, can be used in various scenarios.
In this case, it has been repeatedly stated that Russian kamikaze drones are being precisely tracked in Ukrainian airspace using these repeaters.
If they are reconfigured, let them continue to function. If they are not reconfigured, they will be destroyed.
Or they could be moved deeper into Belarusian territory—to a distance at which they would lose functionality and be unable to track these objects in Ukrainian airspace, concludes Alexander Kovalenko.
It doesn’t have to be a large-scale attack on the fat potato’s country. Just a few well-placed strikes are all it takes.
Onto his head.