Ukraine looks to step up protection for Belarusian dissidents in the country, after a Belarusian activist was found dead in Kiev on Tuesday

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered extra protection for Belarusian dissidents in Ukraine.
• He said Belarusians who are targeted for their public political positions "must obtain special and reliable protection."
• A Belarusian activist was found dead in a park in Kiev on Tuesday, in what police called a "murder disguised as a suicide."
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered extra protection on Wednesday for Belarusian dissidents in Ukraine after a Belarusian activist was found dead in a park in Ukraine on Tuesday.

Vitaly Shishov – leader of Belarusian House in Ukraine, an organization that helps people who left Belarus – went for a jog on Monday and went missing. He was later found hanged in a park in Ukraine's capital Kyiv on Tuesday.

Police have opened a murder investigation into the incident, calling it a "murder disguised as a suicide."

"Every Belarusian who can become the target of criminals because of their public political position must obtain special and reliable protection," Ukraine President Zelensky said in a statement Wednesday, reported AFP.

He also ordered the Interior Ministry and Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) to "work out a clear algorithm for assessing possible risks" to "eliminate any threat to people."

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has an iron grip on Belarus, cracking down on free speech and dissidents, forcing many to flee to neighboring Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania.

Shishov, the 26-year-old activist who died, was helping people who fled from Belarus to Ukraine. Meanwhile, close to 10,000 Belarusians applied for asylum or humanitarian visas to Poland in the past year, reported Reuters, citing the Polish foreign ministry and Poland's Office for Foreigners.

Last week, Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya received a humanitarian visa from Poland, after refusing to be sent home from the Tokyo Olympics. Tsimanouskaya said she feared for her safety after criticizing her coaches on social media. She is in Warsaw now, while her husband and daughter had also left Belarus for Ukraine.

In May this year, Lukashenko ordered the diversion of a passenger flight carrying dissident Belarusian journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend. The move sparked off international condemnation. The plane was flying to Lithuania from Greece, when it was redirected to Belarusian capital Minsk due to an alleged security threat. The two were detained upon landing and Protasevich was put under house arrest.

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