Russia to open control stations for long-range drones in Belarus, Zelenskiy says

KYIV, March 23 (Reuters) – Russia plans to open four ground control stations for long-range attack aircraft in Belarus, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday, citing information from Ukraine’s military intelligence agency.

Zelenskiy, who has repeatedly warned in recent months that Belarus would become more involved in Russia’s war against Ukraine, added in his comments on X that he had instructed the service chief to inform Kiev’s partners about these plans.

Speaking later in the night in a video speech, Zelenskiy said that Belarusian aid at the beginning of the four-year war intensified the damage caused by Russian attacks for a while until Ukraine took action against it.

“We have now received information from our intelligence that Russia intends to continue using Belarusian territory and the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territory to build ground control stations for long-range unmanned aerial vehicles,” he said.

“There will be reactions to this and they will be felt.”

The Belarusian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside business hours.

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa; Editing by Daniel Flynn, ​Ron Popeski, Rod Nickel)