Ukrainian authorities say they will nationalise jet engine maker Motor Sich, majority-owned by Chinese companies “for the national security of the country”.

Without an effectively functioning government, plans to normalise relations with Turkey cannot proceed, and vital transport and trade routes will continue to be blocked.

The formerly occupied districts were more than 95 percent destroyed.

The pro-European opposition in Belarus had been marginalised and kept well out of political activity long before the 2020 election. The mass protests became for Lukashenko a testing ground of how effective the security apparatus was.

National Bank of Ukraine Governor Kyrylo Shevchenko was accused by his deputy of censorship and of shutting out his colleagues in policy decisions, re-igniting concerns about central bank independence.