Photo: Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov / Telegram
Russian forces likely used manual camera-guided control to direct a Shahed drone that struck a gas station in the town of Malyn in Ukraine's Zhytomyr region on Tuesday, according to Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine's defense minister and an electronic warfare specialist.
Beskrestnov said the drone's flight path suggests that relay stations on Belarusian territory were activated, allowing operators to control the drone beyond the range of a direct radio link.
"The Shahed flew along the Belarusian border, then reached Korosten directly above the highway before turning and following the railway line to Malyn, where it struck the gas station," he said, citing data collected by Ukrainian radar systems.
He noted that the strike location is about 260 kilometers from the Russian border, making direct radio control impossible. According to Beskrestnov, there were also no other drones in the air that could have served as airborne relay stations.
He added that Russia cannot conduct real-time guided Shahed attacks deep into western Ukraine without relay infrastructure located in Belarus.
"I don't know whether Lukashenko will withstand persistent requests to deploy relay stations. I also can't rule out the possibility that they are being installed without the Belarusian authorities' knowledge. It can be done quickly and easily," Beskrestnov said. "They should pay closer attention to what is happening in their country."
In June, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Belarus to disable relay stations allegedly assisting Russian strikes on Ukraine, saying Ukrainian forces would act if Minsk failed to do so. Belarus subsequently switched the relay stations off, while the Kremlin accused Kyiv of threatening Belarusian sovereignty.
