Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: “Near the monument to Uladzimir Karatkevich in Kyiv, I saw the building of the Belarusian embassy. Empty, neglected, overgrown with grass.

“It is difficult to imagine a more painful symbol of what Lukashenka’s regime has done to relations between Belarus and Ukraine.

“The regime betrayed the true interests of the Belarusian people and destroyed the natural friendship between our nations in order to serve the Kremlin’s ambitions.

“But this is not forever. We will return Belarus — European, free, and independent. And this embassy will once again become a place of cooperation, respect, and good neighborliness between Belarusians and Ukrainians.”