Transponders near the Belarus-Ukraine border, which Ukraine says allowed Russian forces to send long-range drones into the western regions of Ukraine, have stopped working. This happened after the warning of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. However, it is not yet clear whether Belarus has completely dismantled them or only temporarily suspended their use.
25.06.2026 10:20 , updated: 22:20
A former Russian intelligence officer said to be familiar with the situation, according to the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) he claimsthat the Kremlin threatens Minsk with the cessation of financial support if it does not comply with its demands. At the same time, Moscow continues to portray Ukraine as a threat to Belarus.
ISW assesses the shutdown of the repeaters as a sign that Lukashenko continues to try to avoid the full involvement of Belarus in Russia’s war against Ukraine. According to analysts, Minsk is balancing between maintaining support from Russia and the remnants of its own sovereignty.
Several sources state that The Kremlin is increasing pressure on the Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko for Belarus to expand its involvement in Russia’s war against Ukraine. According to them, Moscow strives for more active use of Belarusian territory in military operations, especially for launching drones against Ukraine.
Russia’s goal is also to expand the front line towards the west. According to analysts, this could force Ukraine to move part of its forces from existing battlefields to the Belarusian-Ukrainian border.
As of 2022, Lukashenko has refused to allow Russia to deploy Belarusian armed forces to support its operations in Ukraine or to conduct large-scale recruitment of Belarusians into the Russian military. At the same time, according to the report, the Belarusian leadership significantly avoids adopting the Kremlin’s rhetoric, which presents Ukraine as a direct threat to Belarus.
Analysts conclude that Lukashenko continues to delay and circumvent the Kremlin’s efforts to drag Belarus deeper into the war, while maintaining a relatively neutral stance toward Ukraine.
Russia denies pressuring Belarus
According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Russia is pressuring Belarus to use it in the war against Ukraine, threatening, among other things, to cut financial support. On Thursday, the Kremlin rejected the newspaper’s report and called Belarus Russia’s closest ally. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko repeatedly claims that he will not allow the country to be dragged into war, but at the beginning of the February 2022 invasion, he allowed Russian forces to use the country’s territory to attack Ukraine. A Kremlin spokesman has now declared that the WSJ text does not correspond to reality.
In response to Zelensky’s statements, Russian officials accused Ukraine of meddling in Belarusian affairs. Lukashenko, who is Moscow’s closest ally, did not respond directly. However, at the end of May, he stated that he would not allow himself to be drawn into the war against Ukraine and that he was willing to meet with Zelensky. Lukashenko said this after Zelenskyi warned against the threat of Russia launching a new offensive against Ukraine from Belarusian territory, as it had already done at the beginning of the war.
Belarusian Defense Minister Viktar Chrenin said on Thursday that Minsk perceives an obvious attempt to be drawn into the war, and also warned against external pressure on his country. Chrenin did not specify who was behind such an effort, but his statements indicated that he was talking about the West, according to Reuters. He accused Western countries of being behind the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine. Such claims are used by Russia, although the order for the invasion was issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Moscow, which until the last moment before the attack denied that it wanted to attack the neighboring country, also claims that it is fighting against the entire West and the North Atlantic Alliance in Ukraine.
Lukashenko declared on Thursday that he recently met with Zelensky’s emissaries and through them sent a message to Kyiv that it would be better to come to an agreement than to fight with each other. He allegedly received an answer that President Zelenskyi and his representatives understand it.
“Come on, people, let’s negotiate. We need to reach meaningful agreements. No wasting time, no yelling, no attempts to blow the whistle in the Russian style and the like,” Lukashenko said during a meeting with Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov, according to Russian state agency TASS. “Our position is peaceful,” the Belarusian president said, adding that Ukrainians and Belarusians do not want to fight each other.
It follows from Lukashenko’s words that Belarus is trying to involve Moscow in the war, noted the BBC News server.
Zelenskyi once again called on Belarus to stop building military infrastructure near the border with Ukraine, which could be used for aggression. “The construction of roads, ammunition depots and fuel depots is being completed along our state border, which have no other purpose except for the military,” the Ukrainian president wrote on the social network after a meeting with the head of Ukrainian intelligence Oleh Luhovsky. He added that the mentioned devices are mentioned in Russian documents in connection with the “tasks of a special military operation”, as Moscow calls the invasion of its troops in Ukraine. “Belarus knows what steps it must take for the sake of peace. Belarus must stop building the border infrastructure of aggression. It is the Belarusian side that must take steps to reduce tension and preserve peace,” Zelenskyy emphasized.
In response to the threat from Belarus, Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said in an interview with the Liga.net server that the Ukrainian army needs to create new brigades to repel a possible attack from the north. This would extend the current front line by approximately 160 kilometers.
