KYIV, March 23 (Reuters) – Russia plans to open four ground control stations for long-range attack drones in Belarus, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday, citing information from Ukraine’s military intelligence service.
Zelensky, who has repeatedly warned in recent months that Belarus would become more involved in Russia’s war in Ukraine, added in comments on X that he had instructed the head of the department to inform partners in Kyiv of the plans.
Zelensky later said in a nightly video address that Belarusian aid in the early stages of the four-year-old war exacerbated the damage caused by Russian attacks until Ukraine took action.
“We now know from intelligence that Russia intends to continue to use Belarusian territory and temporarily occupied Ukrainian territory to build ground control stations for long-range drones,” he said.
“There will be responses to this. And those responses will be felt.”
Belarus’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside business hours.
(Reporting by Yulia Dessa; Editing by Daniel Flynn, Ron Popeski, Rod Nickell)