Belarus

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko yesterday banned citizens from renewing their passports while abroad, which could force those who fled the country, amid a growing crackdown, to return to keep their travel documents.

The United States Embassy in Belarus issued a warning on Monday and urged its citizens to leave Belarus immediately.

A statement noted that Lithuania had previously closed two of its border crossings with Belarus and that Poland and Latvia had indicated they might do the same.

They made that decision after they determined that two Belarusian helicopters had violated Polish airspace.
"It was established that today, August 1, 2023, there was a violation of Polish airspace by two Belarusian helicopters that were conducting training near the border," the ministry said in a statement.

The corridor is located between Belarus and Russia's Kaliningrad region.
"An engineering battalion will soon be formed in Augustw. It is another military unit that we are creating from scratch, and I assure you that it will not be the last," said the minister.

Russian former world number two Vera Zvonareva has been denied entry to Poland where she was to participate in next week's Polish Open WTA tournament, the interior ministry said on July 22.

"Vera Zvonareva was trying to enter our country with a visa granted by France, via a flight from Belgrade," according to a statement issued by the Polish ministry.

"The committee analyzed possible threats, such as the dislocation of units of the Wagner group. Therefore, the Minister of National Defense, the chairman of the Committee, Mariusz Baszczak, decided to move our military formations from the west to the east of Poland," Hoffmann told the PAP agency, reports Reuters.

At a long-closed crossing point from Ukraine to Belarus, Oleg, a camouflage-clad guard carrying a Kalashnikov, says he has seen no sign of Wagner mercenaries across the border, some 150 metres away.

Belarus said Friday that instructors from the Russian mercenary force Wagner were training its troops, following weeks of uncertainty about the future of the group after its failed mutiny in Russia.

The short-lived rebellion was ended by a deal under which some Wagner fighters and their outspoken leader Yevgeny Prigozhin were supposed to move to Belarus.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday ordered security to be beefed up at his country's border with Belarus, where fighters from the Russian paramilitary group Wagner have been offered exile.

Day 489 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours: