Ukraine recalls its ambassador to Belarus

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Monday he had recalled the ambassador to Belarus for consultations to assess the prospects of further bilateral relations between the two neighbours "in the new reality".

"The development of events in Belarus, whose society has expressed a vote of no confidence in the official results of the presidential elections in Belarus, is fundamentally changing the situation in Belarusian-Ukrainian relations," Kuleba said in a statement.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday he would be willing to hand over power after a referendum in an apparent bid to pacify mass protests and strikes that pose the biggest challenge to his 26 years in office.

(Reporting by Natalia Zinets; editing by Matthias Williams and Hugh Lawson)