You're reading: EU says no to tourists from Ukraine, allows other types of visitors (UPDATE)

The European Union on June 30 decided against opening its borders to Ukraine amid the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown for tourists.

The bloc opened its borders to 15 non-EU countries. These include China, Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay. The EU’s decision is not legally binding, and member states can choose not to open borders to all of the 15 countries.

Five non-EU countries – the U.K., Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway – are also automatically included as “safe” for travel.

However, the EU did not open its borders to countries with the biggest numbers of COVID-19 cases – the U.S., Brazil, and Russia.

The EU outlined several exceptions to the no-travel rule.

The exceptions include:

  • EU citizens and their family members;
  • long-term EU residents and their family members; and
  • travelers with an essential function or need, presumably those with work visas or on business trips. The specific exceptions are spelled out here.

Meanwhile, Ukranian Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said on June 30 that, according to the EU rules, travel restrictions could be lifted for countries with up to 16 people infected with COVID-19 per 100,000 residents. However, restrictions are expected to apply to Ukraine in the near future because this indicator has reached 57 per 100,000 in the country, Stepanov added.

The number of officially confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ukraine reached 44,334 on June 30, while the death toll stands at 1,159.

As the lockdown restrictions were gradually relaxed, Ukraine’s official COVID-19 statistics hit new records recently, with the number of cases amounting to about 1,000 daily during the previous week.