Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has suffered a setback in Sunday's local elections, early exit polls showed, while his pro-Russian and pro-European rivals are leading in most of the country's major cities, news wires reported.

Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday warned that Moscow could freeze its contacts with the EU in response to its sanctions over the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, news wires reported. The tough statement comes a day after the EU foreign ministers agreed to impose sanctions on Russian officials and organizations blamed for Navalny’s poisoning with a Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok.

Belarusian police detained numerous protesters on Sunday during demonstrations against President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk, in what observers called the most violent crackdown seen in weeks, dpa reported.

Moscow schools began unplanned holidays on Monday and businesses were required to have at least 30% of their staff working remotely, as COVID-19 cases across Russia hit their highest level since 12 May.

Belarusian authorities on Friday announced they were imposing sanctions against the European Union and threatened to revise the country's diplomatic relations with the bloc, news wires reported. The move came in response to EU sanctions on several dozen Belarus officials accused of falsifying presidential election results and leading a crackdown on peaceful protesters.

Nobel prize-winning author Svetlana Alexievich, the last member of a galvanized opposition movement's leadership to remain free in Belarus, has fled the country over concern for her safety, dpa learned on Monday. The 72-year-old, who won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature, is said to have left the country on a flight by Belarusian airline Belavia en route to Berlin.

Moscow authorities have issued a recommendation for the elderly to stay at home and for employers to allow as many people as possible to work remotely, following a rapid growth of coronavirus cases in the Russian capital.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday announced he was putting troops on high alert and closing the country’s borders with Poland and Lithuania, news wires reported. The decision underlines his repeated claim that the wave of 6-week protests is driven by the West.

Belarus authorities used barbed wire to close off a central square in the capital Minsk and started to detain protesters as they took to the streets for another march on Sunday as every weekend, news wires reported. A Reuters witness saw a column of people numbering at least 10,000 moving towards Independence Square, where the government sits.

Russians vote on Sunday in dozens of local elections that will be scrutinised for signs of discontent with the ruling United Russia party following the suspected poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, news wires reported. Navalny urged his supporters to vote against it tactically before he fell gravely ill in what Germany and his allies say was an attempt to kill him.