Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Belarus has one week to remove signal relay stations used by Russia in attacks on Ukraine, escalating pressure on Alexander Lukashenko over infrastructure Kyiv says is helping Russian forces. Zelenskyy said the equipment sits in two Belarusian regions bordering Ukraine and warned: “If he doesn’t do it, we’ll do it.”
Zelenskyy’s one-week deadline
Zelenskyy made the demand on Friday, saying a week should be enough for Lukashenko to remove the stations. He described the relay sites as part of the machinery supporting attacks on Ukrainian civilians and said Belarus’s oil refining industry had become a major supplier for Moscow.
“What’s the point of saying he [Lukashenko] doesn’t want to be in the war? Let him remove this equipment, let him switch it off. I think a week will be enough for him to do that,” Zelenskyy said. He added: “Today he is the main supplier, or one of the main suppliers, for the Russian army. Specifically, Lukashenko, specifically Belarus.”
Belarus and the border
The stations Zelenskyy named are in two Belarusian regions bordering Ukraine. That detail matters because it places the dispute on the northern edge of the war, where Ukraine has been beefing up its defences after signs that Vladimir Putin may be trying to make greater use of Belarus in the conflict.
Zelenskyy also said Lukashenko could stop Belarus’s refined oil supplies to the Russian army. “Can this be stopped? I’m sure it’s within his power. And he’s the one controlling it,” Zelenskyy said.
Minsk’s denial and Kyiv’s pressure
Before Friday, exchanges of threatening language between Kyiv and Minsk had culminated in Lukashenko apologising to Zelenskyy for past remarks and saying Belarus wanted no part in the war. Zelenskyy’s latest warning directly challenges that position by tying Belarus-based equipment and fuel flows to Russia’s attacks on Ukraine.
Ukraine has also been intensifying attacks on the Russian oil sector to put pressure on Russia’s war capability after more than four years of conflict. Against that backdrop, the deadline gives Belarus a narrow window to act before Ukraine decides whether to move on the relay stations itself.
What comes after the deadline
The immediate next step is the week Zelenskyy gave Lukashenko. If Belarus removes the stations, the pressure eases on one of the war’s least transparent supply lines; if it does not, Zelenskyy has already said Ukraine will do it. The statement leaves open only the method, not the ultimatum.
