The flight of a drone that was recently shot down by NATO over Lithuania had entered the country from Belarusian airspace. This drone flew over the Lentvaris area near the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, and was ultimately shot down near the village of Partukonai. This is the first time a drone has been downed in Lithuanian territory.
Belarus's Role in Drone Attacks on Ukraine
This incident has once again drawn attention to Belarus, especially due to its role in assisting Russia in conducting drone attacks on Ukraine. Recently, Ukrainian officials announced that Russia is using Belarusian mobile networks and repeaters to enhance the operations of Shahed-type drones in attacks on western Ukraine. An advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Serhiy "Flash" Basytny, stated that the flight paths of Russian drones in a large-scale attack indicate that they are using mobile networks at the border.
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Belarusian Communication Infrastructure and Its Impact on NATO Security
Ukrainian border services also reported that recent Russian attacks on western Ukraine, including Rivne, Volyn, and Lviv, were conducted with the support of communication infrastructure based in Belarus. A spokesperson for this agency, Andriy Demchenko, stated: "The aerial assets that were flown by Russia were fed by signals provided by repeaters in Belarus." These claims suggest that Russia is once again using communication infrastructure within Belarus to support its drone campaign against Ukraine.
The head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Oleksandr Ivaschenko, stated that Kyiv has identified six repeater stations in Belarus that are used by Russian forces to transmit video streams from strike drones, and some of this equipment has been reactivated. This equipment has become a source of tension between Kyiv and Minsk since Zelensky's warning to Belarus in June, which gave the country a week to turn off equipment installed by Russia.
The return of this equipment to Belarus allows Russia to maintain communications with its strike drones operating near Ukraine's northern and western borders, including areas close to NATO territory. Russia is increasingly using a combination of mobile networks and radio technology to maintain communications with its long-range strike drones, overcoming Ukraine's electronic warfare capabilities.
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