EU Ambassadors Decide to Remove Ukraine from ‘Safe List’ Due to Spike in COVID-19 Cases

On Friday, EU ambassadors in Brussels decided to remove Ukraine from the travel “safe list” due to the deteriorating epidemic situation in the country and a significant increase in the number of coronavirus cases.

RFE/RL’s editor Rikard Jozwiak posted this on his Twitter page, adding that the decision will be formalised early next week.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba has already reacted to the decision of the ambassadors, assuring that “there will be no total closure of the EU borders.”

“This is a recommendation, and the final decisions will be made by each individual EU member state. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is actively working with partners to maintain utmost freedom of travel for Ukrainians,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

As a reminder, the COVID-19 spread rate in Ukraine has reached its maximum level since the beginning of the pandemic. The daily number of new coronavirus cases exceeds 25,000, while the number of hospitalisations exceeded 50,000 patients last week for the first time.

Bohdan Marusyak