Close Russia ally Belarus has told Ukraine to cut its diplomatic presence in the country citing unfriendly actions and meddling in its internal affairs, the Belarusian foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

Russia has used Belarusian territory as a staging post for its attack on Ukraine and the Ukrainian president's office on Sunday warned it saw a high risk of an attack on western Ukraine's Volyn region being launched from Belarus.

The foreign ministry said in a statement that an unspecified number of Ukrainian diplomats would have to leave within 72 hours and that the Ukrainian consulate in the city of Brest would be closed due to a lack of staff.

It said the Ukrainian ambassador and four other diplomats would be allowed to stay.

On Tuesday the Belarusian security service, the KGB, accused eight Ukrainian diplomats of espionage.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Conor Humphries)