A digital nomad, Belgian citizen Nicolas Impellizzeri is constantly changing the countries he’s working from. Currently stuck in Egypt, he wanted to move to “more civilized” countries like Ukraine and was already looking for an apartment and applying for residency.
But his plans have been shattered after Ukraine announced it was closing its borders to foreigners for a long time.
Like Impellizzeri, many foreign citizens have ended up canceling their flights or, on the contrary, rushing to arrange visas and return to Ukraine before the ban on entering the country comes into force.
Ukraine will close its borders to foreign citizens for a month starting on Aug. 29, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced during a government meeting on Aug. 26. The ban will last until Sep. 28.
The entry ban follows the government’s decision to extend the coronavirus quarantine until Oct. 31 due to the rising number of infections in the country, which, over the last week, has been clocking in at nearly 2,000 new cases a day.
On Aug. 27, Ukraine reported the largest daily number of deaths so far — 49.
But the government’s actions amid such developments look hectic. In a bid to stop the rapid spread of COVID-19, Ukraine is closing borders, prolonging and tightening the quarantine, but, at the same time, allowing schools and universities to reopen. It has also failed to introduce mass testing.
“The decision to close or open the borders won’t affect the rapid increase of new infections in Ukraine,” said Pavlo Kovtoniuk, former deputy health minister. The novel coronavirus in Ukraine is spreading more rapidly than in Europe and the government won’t be able to curb it with the current approach, he added.
After the ban, the only foreigners who can still enter Ukraine are those with residency permits and refugees — they will be exempt from the ban, as will transit passengers who can confirm that they will leave the country in no more than two days.
The ban also will not apply to citizens invited to the country by Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs or members of diplomatic missions and international organizations.
Cargo drivers, airplane cabin crews and patients who come to Ukraine for treatment, as well as students of Ukrainian universities, athletes and cultural workers who have an invitation from Ukrainian institutions will also be allowed in.
However, according to Prime Minister Shmyhal, in some cases, it will be Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service officers who will make the decision on whether to allow foreigners into the country.
For example, Belarusian citizens who want to move to Ukraine can arrive at Ukraine’s border checkpoints and the border guards will decide if they can be let in.
But human right activist Maksym Butkevych believes it won’t work if the number of Belarusians leaving their country for Ukraine will increase, because the State Border Guard offices simply won’t be able to process so many visitors.
Butkevych and other human rights activists call the decision by the Ukrainian government hasty and unjustified. The government didn’t provide any scientific evidence that the border shutdown will contain the spread of COVID-19 in Ukraine, Butkevych said. Kovtoniuk also calls the decision “political rather than scientific.”
Some Ukrainians believe that by closing the country’s borders, the government just wants to avoid mass gatherings on the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, which is celebrated on Sept. 18-20 this year.
Every year tens of thousands of Hasidic Jews travel to the Ukrainian city of Uman, located 215 kilometers to the south of Kyiv, to celebrate Rosh Hashanah at the gravesite of Rabbi Nachman, founder of the Breslov Hasidic dynasty.
Both the Ukrainian and Israeli governments had previously agreed that the pilgrimage should be banned this year due to the high COVID-19 infection rate in Ukraine and the risk that such a mass celebration poses. There’s no hard evidence, however, that the travel ban and opposition to celebrating the holiday in Uman are connected.
The ban will also take a toll on businesses and the tourism industry, which have just started to revive after the COVID-19 lockdown. According to the Association of Incoming Tour Operators, for example, closing the border to foreigners will pose even more severe consequences for the whole tourism industry than the current quarantine restrictions.
Ukraine International Airlines, the country’s largest airline, stated that the ban will worsen the crisis for the aviation industry, which has suffered great losses due to COVID-19.
Although Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has supported the decision to close Ukraine’s borders to foreigners until October, the move even provoked controversy inside the government.
For example, the acting head of Ukraine’s education ministry, Serhiy Shkarlet, asked Shmyhal to lift the ban to foreign students studying in Ukraine.
According to Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda, other ministries also disagreed with the bill, which was initially submitted by Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.
His ministry didn’t even submit the whole text of the bill at the time and it wasn’t in the government’s agenda before the meeting on Aug. 26.
“It seems that the decision was made in a rush,” activist Butkevych told the Kyiv Post.
Meanwhile, in Egypt, Impellizzeri has changed his plans. He now wants to move to Turkey.
