Putin’s forces claim capture of strategic town as Zelensky makes Trump appeal - Separate Mechanised Brigade confirms withdrawing strategically from some area to avoid encirclement

Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko is all but certain to extend his more than three decades in power in Sunday’s election.

The border between Belarus and Ukraine is closed, but we maintain certain contacts, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko told the media on .

Belarusians are voting in a closely-managed presidential election that is all but certain to extend the one-man rule of Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994 and Europe’s longest-serving leader.

Living 30 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, Belarusian retiree Sergei Budyukhin says the war on the other side of the frontier never feels far away.

Election commission members prepare to count ballots for the presidential election at a polling station in Minsk, Belarus on Jan 26. (AP)

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union rejected the election in Belarus on Sunday as illegitimate and threatened new sanctions. Belarus held an orchestrated vote virtually guaranteed to give 70-year-old autocratic President Alexander Lukashenko yet another term on top of his three decades in power.

Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko is all but certain to extend his more than three decades in power in Sunday’s election that is rejected by the opposition as a farce after years o

Russia and Belarus will continue working closely together to boost their multifaceted cooperation, increase the efficiency of institutions at the Union State, the Russian leader underlined

Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers.

Europe’s longest-serving leader won re-election in a contest widely believe to have been rigged. The result cements the power of a leader whose country is considered Russia’s staunchest ally.