Goodnight, Belarus - may God keep you.

I go to sleep on a historic night - on a par with... With what? Poland on 12 December 1981 - the eve of Martial Law? Or Poland on 4 June 1989 after the partially free elections that saw the communist party overwhelmed by a total landslide? Or Ukraine on 21 November, when Yanukovych, corrupt puppet of Putin, fled the country?

For 26 years Lukashenko has ruled Belarus; the result of his post-Soviet leadership is that GDP per capita there is only 55% of what it is in Poland. Belarusians can see into the EU - their country borders with three member states - and they know exactly what they're missing.

Over the next eight hours, what will happen just over 100 miles to the east of where I'm sleeping? In Minsk, in Brest just across the border, in Gomel, in Vitebsk, in Grodno? Will Lukashenko's goons resort to deadly violence to suppress the masses who have taken to the streets protesting against a blatantly stolen election? Will we see more police changing sides to back the pro-democracy marchers - or is that just wishful thinking? Will Lukashenka stand firm, or will he fly to Moscow? Will Putin wade in (Russian media are suspiciously quiet about what's happening in Belarus right now)?

The West has had a hammering these past few years; Brexit, Trump, Covid - could Belarus be the start of a 'winds of change' moment, like the fall of the Berlin Wall - or is that too countercyclical a proposition to even consider?

I've been glued to Twitter - which at times like this proves itself to be far superior to Facebook or the tradition media (the BBC's headline 'Belarus election: President Lukashenko set to claim landslide win' is an utter embarrassment and will surely be held up to ridicule in decades to come). Anyone following the independent voices in Belarus can see that the BBC's coverage is lame and lazy.

 But it's time to sleep - what will the morning bring? Will I be tempted to open the laptop at 4am as I did on Brexit referendum night or during the 2016 US presidential election?

May God bless the good people of Belarus, who've suffered long enough under this dictator; may they finally realise a dream of freedom, which we in the West all too often take for granted.

This time five years ago:
Motorbike across Poland to buy fine Polish wine

This time six years ago:
Eat Polish apples, drink Polish cider

This time seven years ago:
Hottest week ever (37C likely to be beaten this week)

This time eight years ago:
Progress along the second line of the Warsaw Metro (now a normal part of city life)

This time nine years ago:
Doric arches, ul. Targowa

This time ten years ago:
A place in the country, everyone's ideal

This time 13 years ago:
I must go down to the sea again