The move comes as Minsk faces further isolation by the European Union after the incident involving a routine flyover of its airspace.

Ukraine's Energy Ministry banned electricity imports from Russia and Belarus, saying neither country was a member of the Energy Community of South-East Europe.

The warning was issued as Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko stoutly defended the action to divert the Ryanair aircraft to Minsk.

Zelensky may be hoping for more explicit U.S. support, but no new format for talks to resolve the Ukrainian crisis is likely before Biden meets Putin.

The first shipment in amount of about 2,000 tonnes was imported this week by SOCAR New Energy, the company's subsidiary.

If the EU and the West as a whole do not react harshly and adequately to Lukashenko's trick, then not only Putin, but also Lukashenko, or both, will wipe their feet about this collective West.

The economy shrank 2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, although officials said that April was marked by some positive trends, in particular in terms of industrial production growth.

Since the elections in August, Protasevich has allegedly been targeted by the Lukashenko regime and has had criminal charges filed against him for allegedly being a terrorist. In Belarus, terrorists can face the death penalty.