Homiel

Homiel Oblast and its regional capital sit in south-eastern Belarus, roughly 50km north of the Ukrainian border, along the Sozh and Dniapro river valleys. With a population of around 500,000, Homiel is Belarus's second-largest city and the commercial hub of its south-eastern region, bordering both Ukraine to the south and Russia's Bryansk Oblast to the east.

Four Russian drone relay stations operating in the Homiel and Brest regions routed Shahed and reconnaissance drones against Zhytomyr, Rivne and Volyn oblasts in western Ukraine. On 20 June 2026 Zelenskyy gave Belarus one week to dismantle them, the first time Kyiv had publicly threatened to strike a third state's sovereign territory. Belarusian commander Colonel Alexander Ilyukevich confirmed on 2 August that the 37th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade, a Belarusian unit rather than a Russian one, is completing formation near the city, about 40km from Ukraine.

Under Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus has progressively integrated its defence architecture with Russia since 2020, and both the relay stations and the new brigade underline Homiel's role as a pivot point for any escalation. The Institute for the Study of War has warned that a Ukrainian strike on Belarusian soil could be used by Moscow to invoke the Union State collective-security pact.