On the morning of July 15, a guided Shahed strike drone attacked a petrol station in Malyn, Zhytomyr region. Serhiy “Flash” Beskrestnov, advisor to the Ukrainian Minister of Defense on electronic warfare, stated that the drone’s flight trajectory indicates manual camera-guided control. This is only possible if relay equipment is operating on Belarusian territory.
According to the expert, the strike occurred at approximately 7:11 a.m. Ukrainian radar data recorded that the drone flew along the Belarusian-Ukrainian border, then headed toward Korosten directly above the highway, before turning and traveling along the railway line to Malyn, where it struck the fuel station.
“Flash” emphasizes that such behavior is typical specifically of UAVs under manual video guidance. The distance from the strike point to the Russian border is approximately 260 km, which rules out a direct radio control link. No other drones in the air that could have served as airborne relay stations were recorded.
Final conclusions, according to the advisor, are yet to be drawn by specialized units following a detailed analysis.
Back in June 2026, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly demanded that Minsk dismantle, within a week, the relay stations that were helping Russia adjust strikes on Ukraine’s western and northern regions. At the time, at least four units of equipment in Homel and Brest oblasts were mentioned. Belarus shut down their operation, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Ukraine’s demand constituted interference in the republic’s sovereignty.
Today’s attack gives grounds to suggest that part of the relay infrastructure in Belarus is periodically resuming operation. “Flash” does not rule out two scenarios: either the Belarusian authorities selectively agree to Moscow’s “requests,” or the equipment is being installed on the republic’s territory without Minsk’s knowledge.
According to the advisor’s earlier explanations, approximately 80% of Russian strike drones use mesh networks for communication, while the remainder use LTE modems with SIM cards from Russian operator T2, which during flight along the border can automatically connect to Belarus’s commercial mobile towers via international roaming.
It is precisely the combination of stationary relay stations and the use of Belarus’s civilian mobile infrastructure that previously allowed Russia to carry out online guidance of Shaheds and conduct aerial reconnaissance deep inside Ukrainian territory — including against Ukrzaliznytsia facilities along the Kovel–Kyiv route.