
Russia using Belarus as a launch point for many air operations in Ukraine, NATO says
CNN
Russia has been using Belarus as a springboard for many of its air operations in Ukraine, according to intelligence collected by NATO surveillance planes flying over the Polish-Ukrainian border and radar seen by CNN.
CNN accompanied NATO's Flying Squadron 2 on one such surveillance mission on Thursday. Within two hours of taking off at 8 a.m. CET, the radar on board the NATO AWACS plane -- short for Airborne Warning and Control System -- picked up about a dozen Russian-made planes idling in Belarus just north of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, NATO tactical director Denis Guillaume told CNN.
Hours later, at least nine Russian-made planes were spotted entering Ukrainian airspace from Belarus, appearing to head toward Kyiv, the radar showed.

Ukraine’s military commander in charge of the country’s drone warfare program urged the US and NATO countries alike on Wednesday to learn from Kyiv’s use of the technology on the battlefield so in the future there are not “hard questions from your children [about] when [their] father will come back.”