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What did Belarus's border closure mean for Kyiv?
Summary
A look back at the regional pressures that surrounded Ukraine in early July 2021, from a shut frontier to a Lithuanian emergency.
What was happening on Ukraine's northern frontier as the region reached 6 July 2021? The days just before that date had brought a cluster of tense developments around Belarus.
On 2 July 2021, Belarus closed its border with Ukraine. President Alexander Lukashenko claimed that arms were being smuggled into his country in an attempt by outside powers to overthrow his government, and said the line had been crossed and could not be forgiven. Ukraine denied the claims and said that closing the border would make ordinary people suffer.
The same day, Lithuania declared a state of emergency. The reason was a rise in the number of undocumented migrants, mostly Syrians, entering from Belarus. The Lithuanian government accused Lukashenko of deliberately trying to destabilise the country by encouraging and allowing them to cross.
A wider regional picture
Taken together, the two announcements showed Minsk in confrontation with two of its neighbours at once, each accusation resting on a different charge: armed subversion in one case, deliberate destabilisation through migration in the other.
Elsewhere in the region, a quieter chapter closed. On 30 June 2021, the last Polish troops left Afghanistan, ending Poland's involvement in the war. Around 33,000 Polish troops had served there, and 44 were killed in action.
For readers in Kyiv and neighbouring capitals, the early days of July 2021 were therefore a moment of both closing and tightening borders, with Belarus at the centre of the disputes.
