The European Games Torch was taken to the Mound of Glory outside Minsk ©Minsk 2019

As the European Games flame finally approaches the city of Minsk, the Torch Relay cavalcade made one last stop en-route to pay tribute to those who liberated Belarus from Nazi occupation 75-years ago.

A wartime aircraft was used as part of the Relay as the flame was taken to the Mound of Glory, a Soviet-era monument some 20 kilometres from the capital's centre.

It was carried by five-time Winter Olympian Aleksei Grishin. 

His victory in the aerials at Vancouver 2010 was the first for Belarus as an independent nation in the Winter Olympics.

Moscow 1980 heavyweight weightlifting champion Leonid Taranenko also made the 230 foot ascent to the top of the monument which depicts the faces of soldiers and airmen who fought in the Second World War.

The Torch Relay is now in its closing stages ©Minsk 2019
The Torch Relay is now in its closing stages ©Minsk 2019

Alyona Lanskaya, singer of the the Belarus entry at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest, and singer-turned politician Irina Dorofeyeva both carried the flame.

They were joined by television presenters Marina Gritsuk and Denis Kourian.

"The Relay has united athletes, artists, civil servants and those from all walks of life who are attracted to sport," said Natalia Yakubitskaya, chairwoman of the Minsk Council of Deputies who welcomed the flame.

In Minsk itself, dancers have been going through their final rehearsals and are ready to welcome the flame when it arrives at State Flag Square for the first big appearance in the capital.

The flame will tour the city before the cauldron is lit at the Opening Ceremony of the second European Games at Dinamo Stadium on Friday (June 21).