The European Union would like to see as many people from the eastern region of Ukraine as possible to visit the EU countries, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Hugues Mingarelli said.
“My wish is as many Ukrainian people as possible, especially from the eastern part of the country, could visit the EU, so that they could assess themselves and see the way how people live there. Visa-free regime is the best way to counter fake news as people can see themselves what the realities are,” he told in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
The ambassador also noted that according to the data available to him, only 4-5 percent of the inhabitants of eastern Ukraine were in the EU countries, while in the western regions this figure was 20-25 percent.
Mingarelli said that all citizens of Ukraine who have biometric passports can use the visa-free regime.
“All Ukrainian citizens who hold biometric passports, will benefit from this new visa-free regime. All of them, regardless of where they are: in Donbas, Crimea or Luhansk regions or in the territories under control of the Ukrainian authorities can visit the EU countries,” he said.
As reported, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said that residents of territories that are beyond the control of the Ukrainian authorities can get use of the visa-free regime after the restoration of Ukrainian sovereignty over these territories.
