Ukraine to reopen borders with EU countries and Moldova

The Ukrainian government will reopen 66 border checkpoints with European Union countries and Moldova for the first time after it closed most of them to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus in March.

“Implementation of this decision will restore full-scale border traffic on the borders with Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, and Moldova,” Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said at a government meeting on May 20.

The government approved the decision, and it will come into force once published in the coming days.

At the same time, the number of border checkpoints with Russia and Belarus will remain limited. Ukraine decreased the number of all checkpoints to 20 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additionally, the only neighboring country that currently accepts foreigners is Belarus.

The government will also allow passenger bus travel within cities and their suburban areas, cities within one oblast, and on international routes starting May 22, according to Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Kryklii. Subways will be allowed to operate starting May 25, provided that the cities where they are located meet set epidemiological criteria.

Read more: Ukraine to extend quarantine to June 22, ease restrictions on May 22

Starting June 1, the government will allow passenger bus travel between regions and passenger train travel between cities and their suburban areas and between regions.

Starting June 15, the government will allow the arrival and departure of domestic and international passenger aircraft, Kryklii says.

The number of officially confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ukraine has reached 19,230 as of 9 a.m. on May 20, according to Ukraine’s health ministry. In total, 564 people have died from the disease in Ukraine and 5,955 patients have recovered.

In the 24 hours prior to the health ministry’s latest report, Ukraine identified 354 new COVID-19 cases. This daily number of reported cases has increased for the first time in three days, from 260 cases. As of the morning of May 20, 323 people had recovered and 16 people had died in the past 24 hours.

Globally, the novel coronavirus has infected over 5 million people as of the afternoon of May 20. In total, 325,490 people have died and 1.97 million patients have recovered from COVID-19.