OPEN LETTER: Belarusian Drone Repeaters Out of Service — Zelensky Confirms the Decisive Strike

Introduction: A Letter to Those Who Still Doubt Ukraine

This letter is addressed to those who believe Ukraine cannot win

In Western capitals and in the well-heated drawing rooms of armchair geopolitics, voices persist in whispering that Ukraine is doomed. That Russia is too large, too heavily armed, too determined. That Zelensky should negotiate from a position of weakness. This open letter is addressed to those voices. And it brings them a concrete answer, dated June 22, 2026: the Belarusian drone repeaters are out of service.

This information, publicly confirmed by President Volodymyr Zelensky on June 24, 2026 and analyzed by the ISW, is not a technical footnote. It is a demonstration of clandestine operational capability that alters the strategic calculation in the northwest corridor — the route by which Russian Shahed drones circumvented Ukrainian defenses via Belarusian territory.

Why this operation truly matters

Since 2022, Belarus has served as a military buffer zone for Russia. Russian armed forces have stationed troops there, used its airfields for initial strikes, and more recently, installed drone repeaters in the Gomel and Brest areas to allow Shahed drones to extend their operational range via Belarusian territory. These repeaters were a significant force multiplier for Moscow — and a constant threat to Ukrainian populations in the north.

The SBU — Ukraine's Security Service — attributes the neutralization of these repeaters to clandestine special operations. The details remain classified, which is entirely appropriate. What is not routine is that Zelensky himself chose to publicly confirm the result. In the language of intelligence and hybrid warfare, that confirmation is a message — to Minsk, to Moscow, and to the entire world.

To Alexander Lukashenko: you made a bad calculation

Lukashenko's choice and its consequences

This letter is also addressed to Alexander Lukashenko, the ruler of Belarus, who chose to tie his fate to that of Vladimir Putin by allowing Belarusian territory to be used as a launch base for the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. That choice — which many observers presented as inevitable given his dependence on Moscow — transformed Belarus from a neutral state into a de facto co-belligerent.

The drone repeaters in the Gomel and Brest regions are the physical expression of this complicity. They are not geographic accidents — they are military installations deliberately implanted on Belarusian soil to extend the range of Russia's primary terror weapon against Ukrainian civilians. The destruction of these repeaters is not an attack against Belarus — it is a response to an act of aggression.

The price Minsk will pay

Belarus is today a sanctioned state, isolated from the West, economically dependent on Russia to the point of resembling a Moscow province. Lukashenko's choices have cost his country access to European markets, foreign investment, freedom of movement for its citizens, and international credibility. For a few repeaters on Belarusian territory, Minsk has sacrificed its European future.

Belarus's future will be decided after Putin. And on that day, the question will arise: what legacy will Lukashenko leave behind? An impoverished, isolated country, complicit in war crimes against a neighboring people with whom it shares hundreds of kilometers of border and a common history. That accounting, the Belarusian dictator will have to settle — if not before history, then before his own citizens.

To Volodymyr Zelensky: thank you for the transparency

The courage to confirm what others would have hidden

Mr. President, in this open letter, I want to address you with a word rarely found in diplomatic vocabulary: thank you for your transparency. Publicly confirming the neutralization of the Belarusian repeaters on June 24, 2026 is a deliberate political and strategic act. It tells your allies that Ukraine is not a passive victim absorbing blows — it is an active power that acts, plans, and succeeds in its operations.

This transparency is also a tool for mobilizing Western support. Every confirmed operational success strengthens the arguments of those in European and American parliaments who defend the idea that aid to Ukraine is a sound strategic investment. You are not asking for charity — you are demonstrating effectiveness. And that changes everything in the budget negotiations in Brussels and Washington.

What this confirmation says about your leadership

It would be tempting, for a wartime leader, to keep operational successes secret to preserve the element of surprise. Zelensky does the opposite — he communicates victories to build a narrative of effective resistance. This is a form of military soft power that few wartime leaders have managed with such skill.

The Zelensky model — calculated transparency, direct communication with citizens and allies, owning risks rather than concealing them — is a crisis leadership lesson that Western democracies should study. While Putin hides his losses behind censorship, Zelensky announces his victories before the world. The communication asymmetry is a strategic advantage as much as a moral one.

To the ISW and the analysts: thank you for your rigor

The irreplaceable value of independent analysis

This open letter also addresses the Institute for the Study of War and its analysts, whose daily work of verification, geolocation, and analysis of military operations constitutes an invaluable public service. The ISW report of June 24, 2026 notes that the neutralization of the Belarusian repeaters affects drone routing in the northwest corridor — an independent confirmation that lends weight to Zelensky's statement.

In a world saturated with disinformation, organizations that maintain high verification standards deserve our recognition and support. ISW, Bellingcat, GeoConfirmed, and their counterparts are building, report by report, an architecture of truth that journalists, decision-makers, and citizens can rely on. Their independence is a public good as precious as democracy itself.

OSINT as a tool of democratic resistance

The open-source intelligence (OSINT) community has played an unprecedented role in this war. Thousands of volunteer and professional analysts have geolocated strikes, tracked troop movements, identified equipment, and contradicted Russian propaganda with verifiable visual evidence. This democratization of intelligence is one of the most significant transformations of the conflict.

The Belarusian repeaters neutralized on June 22, 2026 were confirmed through this combination of official Ukrainian analysis, independent ISW assessment, and field monitoring by specialized journalists and analysts. This web of sources is the best guarantee of truth in a war where every party has an interest in manipulating the facts.

To the international community: grasp the significance of what just happened

What neutralizing repeaters in Belarus truly means

To understand the strategic importance of neutralizing the Belarusian repeaters, one must first understand their role. Iranian Shahed drones — supplied to Russia in mass quantities since 2022 — are long-range terror weapons. They target Ukrainian energy infrastructure, civilian cities, and hospitals. Their routing via Belarus allowed them to bypass Ukrainian air defense systems deployed on the eastern front.

By neutralizing the repeaters that guided and amplified the control signals of these drones in the northwest corridor, Ukraine forced Russia to reconfigure its attack routes, expose its drones more to Ukrainian air defenses, and potentially reduce the effectiveness of its overnight strikes. This is an immediate operational gain and a strategic signal to Minsk.

The message to all states helping Russia

Belarus is not the only country providing infrastructure for Russian aggression. Iran delivers drones, North Korea provides munitions, and complex supply networks circumvent sanctions in dozens of countries. The neutralization of the Belarusian repeaters sends a clear message to these actors: infrastructure supporting the Russian war against Ukraine is not untouchable.

Ukraine has demonstrated, through clandestine operations, a geographic reach and technical sophistication that far exceeds what its adversaries assumed. Every successful operation in enemy territory or in complicit states reduces the room for maneuver of those who think they can help Moscow with impunity. That is no longer true.

To those who fund Ukraine's defense: your money is producing results

The effectiveness of Ukrainian special operations

The SBU — Ukraine's Security Service attributes the neutralization of the repeaters to clandestine special operations. Without revealing tactical details — that would be irresponsible — one can affirm that this type of operation requires high-level training, precise intelligence, and significant resources. This is exactly the kind of operation that Western support funding enables.

For European and American parliaments debating Ukraine aid budgets, the neutralization of the Belarusian repeaters is a concrete argument. Every euro and every dollar invested in Ukrainian capabilities — including special operations — produces measurable results: threats eliminated, civilian lives saved, enemy drones thrown off course. This is an investment, not charity.

The logic of reinforced deterrence

Ukrainian operational successes — neutralized repeaters, destroyed FPV depots, space antennas reduced to ash — are progressively building credible deterrence against Russia. They demonstrate that Ukraine can impose a significant cost on any enemy operation, including those conducted from supposedly safe territories.

This deterrence is precisely what Ukraine's Western allies are seeking to build for the long term. A Ukraine capable of defending its territory, striking enemy infrastructure, and neutralizing threats before they reach its civilian population is a Ukraine less dependent on indefinite Western support. The goal is to give Ukraine the means of its own security.

To Russia: your logistical relays are no longer safe

Ukrainian operations penetrating Russian networks

The neutralization of the Belarusian repeaters is not an isolated event. It is part of a systematic campaign by Ukraine aimed at degrading Russian logistical and command infrastructure across all theaters — Belgorod, Crimea, Dubna, and now Belarus. The consistency and simultaneity of these operations suggest an integrated deep warfare doctrine.

For Russia, this penetration is alarming. It reveals that Ukrainian intelligence has identified and geolocated critical infrastructure on territories Moscow considered out of reach. It also suggests a capacity to operate clandestinely on hostile territories that goes beyond what Russian analyses had anticipated. The Russian general who approved the installation of repeaters in Belarus will have some explaining to do.

The flaws in Russian doctrine

Russian military doctrine rests on several premises that have been systematically contradicted by the realities of this war. One of them was that states allied with Moscow — such as Belarus — constituted inviolable buffer zones where support infrastructure could be deployed without risk. The neutralization of the repeaters demonstrates that premise is false.

Every failure of Russian doctrine — whether in ground battles, electronic warfare, space warfare, or operations in Belarus — forces general staffs in Moscow to revise their analyses, reallocate already scarce resources, and adapt their plans in a context of growing military, economic, and diplomatic pressure. Russia is fighting on too many fronts simultaneously to maintain its strategic coherence.

To Europe: it is time to own your role

Belarus at the doors of the EU and NATO

Belarus shares borders with Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia — three members of NATO and the European Union. The drone repeaters installed in the Gomel and Brest areas are a few hundred kilometers from the Alliance's airspace. The Shahed drones that used these repeaters to strike Ukraine skim the borders of NATO.

This geographic reality should be enough to convince even the most reluctant Europeans: the war in Ukraine is not a distant war. It is being fought at Europe's doorstep, with Russian military infrastructure pushing to within a few dozen kilometers of Baltic capitals. Supporting Ukraine is not altruism — it is collective self-protection.

Europe as a security actor, not merely a payer

The European Union has considerably increased its military support for Ukraine since 2022 — but it must still fully assume its role as a security actor in its own right. The neutralization of the Belarusian repeaters is a Ukrainian operation — but it benefits the entire European neighborhood by reducing Russian attack capabilities that also threatened the air corridors and civilian infrastructure of Poland and the Baltic states.

Europe must understand that Ukrainian security is its own security. Every reinforced Ukrainian capability — every successful special operation, every neutralized enemy infrastructure — reduces the threat that Europe itself would face if Russia succeeded in its aggression. This is not strategic detail — it is the very essence of collective defense.

To the SBU: an exemplary operation

Ukrainian intelligence — a remarkable transformation

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has undergone a spectacular transformation since 2022. Purged of elements compromised by Russian networks at the start of the invasion, reorganized, strengthened, and professionalized, today's SBU is a world-class intelligence agency. The neutralization of the Belarusian repeaters is, if the official attribution is accurate, one of its most significant clandestine operations of 2026.

Conducting a special operation on the territory of a hostile foreign state, without triggering a major diplomatic incident, with a confirmed result — that is a demonstration of capability that speaks for itself. The SBU needs no elaborate press release. Zelensky said it was done. The ISW confirmed the impact. Results are the best communication.

The implications for Ukraine's defensive posture

The neutralization of repeaters in the northwest corridor concretely reshapes the threat map for Ukraine. Ukrainian air defenses deployed in the northern regions — Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy — can now concentrate more resources on other threat vectors. The logic is straightforward: fewer repeaters in Belarus means less effective Shahed drones in the north, which frees up defensive resources for other areas.

This operation perfectly illustrates the active defense doctrine Ukraine has developed — an approach that does not wait for missiles and drones, but attacks the systems that make them possible. Neutralizing the repeaters means not waiting for the drone to arrive over a Ukrainian city — it means preventing it from launching properly from Belarusian territory.

To those who still doubt: here is what this war teaches us

Resilience as a fundamental value

This war teaches us that resilience is not merely an abstract value — it is an operational capability that is built, funded, trained, and drilled. Ukraine has not simply "resisted" Russian aggression — it has developed unprecedented capabilities, trained soldiers and agents, built a defense industry in the middle of a war, and maintained a level of national cohesion that its enemies cannot comprehend.

The neutralization of the Belarusian repeaters is the symbol of that resilience. It is an operation that would have seemed unthinkable in March 2022, when Russian tanks were at the gates of Kyiv. It became possible because Ukraine learned, adapted, received support, and refused to capitulate. Ukrainian resilience is living proof that an attacked democracy can survive and counter-attack.

What democracy can do when it decides to defend itself

There is a universal message in the Ukrainian war that transcends geography and politics. It is the message that democracies, when they decide to defend themselves with all their resources, can resist authoritarian regimes even far larger and far better armed. Ukraine has demonstrated that popular legitimacy, civic mobilization, and international cooperation are force multipliers that autocrats cannot purchase.

The next time someone tells you Ukraine is doomed, tell them about the Belarusian repeaters out of service since June 22, 2026. Tell them about the Dubna antenna destroyed. About the Alekseyevka FPV depots in flames. About the 19 Russian regions struck in one night. The facts are the best refutation of defeatism.

To Putin: you underestimated your neighbor

The Kremlin's fundamental miscalculation

Vladimir Putin made, in February 2022, a miscalculation that has mortgaged Russia's future for decades. He thought Ukraine would collapse in 72 hours. He thought the West would lack the cohesion or the will to support Kyiv. He thought Ukrainians — a people he does not even consider distinct from Russians — would welcome his troops as liberators.

He was wrong about everything. And every successful Ukrainian operation — every repeater neutralized in Belarus, every spy satellite confronted in orbit, every drone depot destroyed in Belgorod — is fresh evidence of the scale of his error. Putin awakened a nation, united a people, and forged an army. That may be his most enduring — and most ironic — legacy.

The war he can no longer stop

In 2026, Putin finds himself in a paradoxical situation: he cannot win this war, but he also cannot afford to lose it politically without risking his regime and his own survival. This logic of forward flight is one of the most dangerous elements of the current situation. A leader who cannot afford defeat is a leader who can always choose escalation.

This is precisely why Western support for Ukraine — including the capabilities that enable operations like the neutralization of the Belarusian repeaters — must be maintained and reinforced. Not out of a desire to punish Russia, but to create the conditions for a way out of the crisis that is not a Ukrainian capitulation. A strong Ukraine is the best guarantee of lasting peace in Europe.

To the free press: keep watching

The indispensable role of independent journalism

This open letter also addresses my colleagues in journalism and commentary who have been covering this war for more than four years now. Your work — often in dangerous conditions, sometimes at the cost of your freedom or your life — is indispensable. Without the free Ukrainian press, without foreign correspondents in Kyiv, without the analysts who publish their assessments day and night, the truth about this war would be drowned in Russian disinformation.

The confirmation of the Belarusian repeater neutralization traveled from Zelensky's statement to this article through a chain of rigorous journalism: ISW, RBC-Ukraine, Euromaidan Press, and others. Every link in that chain matters. Every article that verifies a fact rather than repeating a rumor contributes to the victory of truth over propaganda.

Never tire of watching

Ukraine fatigue — the phenomenon whereby Western public opinion gradually grows weary of a prolonged war — is one of the most serious strategic risks for Ukraine. The free press has a duty to constantly remind us of what is at stake: the survival of a European democracy, the security of the entire continent, and the precedent that a Russian victory would set for every authoritarian regime in the world.

The Belarusian repeaters out of service since June 22, 2026 are a story. A small story, perhaps, in the relentless flow of the news cycle. But it is a story that deserves to be told, analyzed, and understood. Because behind every neutralized repeater, there are dozens of nights of a Kyiv those drones could not reach. Every counted fact, every saved life reported — that is the responsibility of journalism.

To all the recipients of this letter: act

What each person can concretely do

An open letter that does not end with a call to action is nothing but empty rhetoric. So here is the call: to European governments — maintain and increase your financial and military support for Ukraine. To parliamentarians — do not cut aid budgets. To citizens — stay informed, support organizations helping Ukrainians, and resist Russian disinformation.

The Belarusian repeaters out of service since June 22 are a collective victory — of Ukraine, its allies, and all those who refused to accept that aggression could win without a response. That victory, however small, requires you to keep fighting in your own spheres of influence — political, economic, and in the media.

The future is being built now

The story of the Belarusian repeater neutralization may one day be a footnote in the history books of this war. Or perhaps future historians will see it as an operational turning point in securing Ukraine's northwest corridor. Either way, what matters today is that Ukraine is acting, advancing, and building the conditions for its victory.

And our role, those of us watching from the outside, is not to let down those who are fighting. Not to let weariness, cynicism, or narrow political calculations prevail over what is right. The future of Europe is being built in the Gomel and Brest areas, in the Donbas trenches, and in the stations of Ukrainian operators who act where no one expects them.

The human dimension of forced silence

Those who depended on repeaters to survive

Behind the technical statistics — jammed frequencies, kilometers of lost coverage, erased signals — there are human beings. Ukrainian soldiers who can no longer coordinate their movements. Civilians in grey zones who can no longer receive emergency alerts. Families who have lost contact with their loved ones at the front. The sabotage of the Gomel and Brest repeaters is not a purely technical operation: it is an attack on lives.

I think of FPV drone operators whose signal was cut off mid-mission. I think of front-line medical teams coordinating their evacuations over these frequencies. I think of Ukrainian artillery crews whose precision depends on a stable satellite connection. For each of them, the forced silence of the Belarusian repeaters is not a technical inconvenience — it is a matter of life and death.

Lukashenko's moral responsibility

Alexander Lukashenko is not a passive actor in this war. Since February 2022, Belarusian territory has served as a missile launch base for strikes against Ukraine, a logistical corridor for Russian forces, and now a platform for electronic sabotage operations that cut Ukrainian military communications. Every Ukrainian death resulting from an interrupted communication has a face — and that face bears the complicity of Minsk.

This open letter is also a reminder to international institutions: Belarus must answer for its complicity. Not only Moscow, not only Russian soldiers in the trenches — every piece of Belarusian infrastructure used to strike Ukraine bears the moral and legal responsibility for those acts. International law cannot turn a blind eye to Minsk simply because Moscow is larger and more threatening.

Conclusion: This Open Letter Is Also a Commitment

What I expect from those who read it

This open letter is not a platform for despair — it is a declaration of hope grounded in facts. The Belarusian repeaters out of service since June 22, 2026, confirmed by Zelensky and analyzed by the ISW, are proof that Ukraine is advancing. It is not doomed — it is building its victory, operation by operation, day after day.

What I expect from those who read this letter is that they pass this message on. That the truth about this war — a Ukraine that succeeds in its operations, neutralizes its threats, and confirms its victories with rigor — be stronger than Russian disinformation and Western defeatism. Ukraine deserves better than pity. It deserves our respect, our support, and our lasting commitment.

What this war demands of the West

The West is being tested. Not by Russian missiles — but by its own capacity to uphold principles over the long term. The neutralized Belarusian repeaters do not end the war. They do not guarantee the safety of Kyiv tomorrow. But they confirm that Ukraine is fighting with intelligence, courage, and effectiveness — and that it deserves allies equal to that struggle.

The stakes are not only Ukraine. They are the entire security architecture of Europe. And that architecture is being built or dismantled right now, in the choices made by the governments, parliaments, and citizens of Western democracies. The Belarusian repeaters are out of service. The question is: for how long will Western democracies remain in service for Ukraine?

Signed Maxime Marquette, columnist

Columnist's transparency box

Editorial positioning

This open letter is written by Maxime Marquette, columnist-analyst. The tone is that of committed opinion, not factual reporting. All factual elements cited — dates, operations, confirmations — come from the sources listed below. No fact has been invented, no testimony fabricated.

Acknowledged limits

I am pro-Ukraine. I believe Ukraine is fighting for values that concern all democracies. This conviction shapes my perspective without altering the facts I cite. The operational details of SBU clandestine operations remain classified and I make no claim to know their specifics — I am commenting on publicly confirmed results.

Sources

Primary sources

ISW — Belarusian repeaters neutralized, Zelensky confirmation, northwest corridor impact — June 24, 2026

Secondary sources

RBC-Ukraine — Ukrainian drones, overnight strikes on 19 regions — June 24, 2026

Euromaidan Press — Northern front strikes, three generations of a Sumy family killed — June 22, 2026

RBC-Ukraine — Russian offensive intensification in Kharkiv region — June 23, 2026

ISW — Assessment June 22, northern operations context — June 22, 2026

Ukrainska Pravda — Ukrainian operations, June 20, 2026