Ukraine accused Belarus on Wednesday of trying to escalate a row over 2,000 Hasidic Jewish pilgrims stranded at a border crossing after Ukrainian border guards did not allow them to enter due to coronavirus restrictions. Relations between Kyiv and Minsk soured after Ukraine joined the European Union in not recognising the result of last month’s election that handed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office. The crisis unfolding in Minsk has pushed Lukashenko back closer to traditional ally Moscow, which remains at loggerheads with Ukraine over Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and the conflict in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region.
