Visegrad Group's Diplomats Visit Ukrainian Checkpoint Zolote - Border Guard Service

KIEV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th December, 2020) Ambassadors from the Visegrad Group member states comprising the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, and a Hungary, have visited a new Ukrainian border checkpoint located in the eastern settlement of Zolote, the press service of the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service said on Friday.

On November 10, the service said that all border checkpoints located on the contact line in the Donetsk region were reopened, with two new border checkpoints in settlements of Shchastya and Zolote becoming operational.

"The ambassadors of the Czech Republic to Ukraine Radek Matula, the Slovak Republic to Ukraine Marek Shafin, the Republic of Poland to Ukraine Bartosz Cichocki, of Hungary to Ukraine Istvan Ijgyarto and Honorary Consul of Hungary in Luhansk Sergey Kirichenko have visited border checkpoint Zolote located in Luhansk region ... The delegates were briefed on its infrastructure, procedures, how citizens pass the checkpoint during the lockdown and the conditions of border guards' service," the press service said.

According to the statement, the visit was made within the framework of the Visegrad Group's security projects.

The press service added that commander of the Luhansk Border Guard Service detachment Yuri Petrov told the ambassadors that Donbas militias continued to block the checkpoint's operation and denied anyone permission to cross the contact line through it.

In 2015, Ukraine implemented border control with the unrecognized republics of Luhansk and Donetsk, which declared their independence in 2014. The Ukrainian citizens may enter or exit the self-proclaimed republics only through the border checkpoints. Last summer, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said that the blockade would cause a humanitarian crisis in the region.