Ukraine warns of direct consequences if Belarus fails to remove equipment used to guide Russian drone strikes, signaling possible diplomatic or security responses.
Russia deployed four retransmitters in Belarus, intended to help direct drone strikes on Ukrainian cities. Kyiv warned Minsk of the serious consequences of such activity, said Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to the President of Ukraine, along the Ukrainian border on Belarusian territory there is equipment that helps Russian forces precisely target strikes using drones. Intelligence also reported four such retransmitters in the Gomel and Brest regions.
Belarus has time to dismantle this equipment
– Volodymyr Zelensky
In addition, Ukraine tracks every Belarusian enterprise that works for the Russian army and supplies components for armored vehicles and missile systems.
Timeline of events and responses
Earlier, on June 17, the head of the Bryansk region in Russia, Yegor Kovalchuk, said that during the shelling of Ukrainian forces a bus carrying a children’s football team from Gomel, en route to a holiday in Gelendzhik, was destroyed. One person died, eight more were injured, including six children, two of whom are in serious condition. Investigative committees of Russia and Belarus opened a criminal case. In Russia this was described as a terrorist act.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces denied involvement of Ukrainian forces in the strikes and stated that the Russian claims do not reflect reality.
During the specified period, the Ukrainian Defense Forces did not use unmanned aerial vehicles against targets on the territory of the Bryansk region
– Ukrainian General Staff
The Ukrainian command called the Kremlin’s statements an information provocation:
“Not being able to achieve the stated objectives on the battlefield and suffering significant losses, the Russian Federation increasingly resorts to information manipulation and fabricating accusations against Ukraine.”
– Ukrainian command
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry condemned the incident, but urged citizens to avoid trips to conflict zones and stressed its obligation to keep the population from traveling to neighboring regions.
Meanwhile, on June 18, the Security Service of Ukraine said it had intercepted an official Russian document confirming Ukraine’s non-involvement in the attack on the bus carrying Belarusian citizens in the Bryansk region of the Russian Federation and indicating that this was a special operation by Russian security services.
Events in the chain of border escalations underscore the tension in the region and the growing information component of the conflict, requiring careful monitoring and appropriate steps by the various institutions.