Belarusian activists have claimed that they caused severe damage to a Russian surveillance plane, likely used against Ukraine, in an act of sabotage in Belarus. There has been no response from Minsk or Moscow.

Lithuania's foreign minister has defended his country's newly-imposed state of emergency on and around its border with Belarus, amid an increasing number of irregular migrants trying to cross – and has accused the Belarusian president of orchestrating "instrumentalised migration" and participating in "trafficking". Gabrielius Landsbergis told FRANCE 24's Catherine Nicholson that Lithuanian border officials need "more legal instruments to really secure the border", which runs for approximately 700 kilometres.

The standoff over migrants entering the EU between Minsk and Warsaw has hit local Polish businesses near the border, many reliant on tourism. With the winter coming and no end in sight to the crisis, DW visited the area.

A Belarusian athlete who refused to board a flight after she said she was taken to the airport by her team against her wishes was "safe and secure" in Tokyo, the International Olympic Committee said on Monday.

Forensic scientists collect evidence at the crime scene in a Kiev park where the missing Belarusian dissident Vitaly Shishov was found hanged. Opposition supporters are accusing Alexander Lukashenko's government of killing the 26-year-old activist, who had helped his compatriots flee repression.

Following a meeting with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya says the death of dissident Vitaly Shishov in Ukraine was probably 'a crime', but that she would wait for the outcome of investigations before confirming her position. Saying she understood that she might 'disappear at any moment', she said 'I can't stop, because I feel responsibility for the future of my country.'

Krystsina Tsimanouskaya lost a legal bid to continue running in Tokyo 2020 after what she described as a "kidnapping" attempt by Belarusian authorities.

Exiled Belarusians and international supporters have joined forces to form the German nonprofit Razam. They are showing their support by taking to the streets and showing solidarity with the opposition in Belarus.

One of Sofia Sapega's biggest concerns might have been defending her thesis, then the flight she and her boyfriend, Raman Pratasevich, were on was forced to the ground in Belarus. Now she has many other worries.

Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya hopes that Emmanuel Macron will be a mediator of the Belarusian crisis and that he can "influence" Russia's Vladimir Putin to participate in mediation. Tikhanovskaya also calls on the French president to press for economic sanctions against Belarusian companies that support the regime of Alexander Lukashenko.

An exit poll published by the Belarusian state media puts strongman Alexander Lukashenko at nearly 80% of the vote in the presidential election. His rival Svetlana Tikhanovskaya rejected the poll amid rising tensions.