Ukraine ban on entry to foreigners to be lifted this week

Ukraine’s cabinet will approve this week a ruling to
cancel the nation’s full prohibition on entry to foreigners imposed in late
August, the eurointegration.com.ua news site reported on Sept. 25, citing two
government sources independent from each other. The 30-day ban began on Aug.
28. “Although the government denies this, the main reason for this decision was
the attempt to tacitly halt Hasidic pilgrims from arriving in Ukraine amid the
background of the pandemic,” the report said, referring to the COVID-19 disease
caused by the coronavirus.

The new travel regime is expected to take effect as of
Sept. 29 in which the entry rules will apply to foreigners and Ukrainian
citizens alike, the report said. These rules largely depend on whether the
country of departure or arrival is included on the global list of high
coronavirus infection rates in the last two weeks. Self-isolation will be
required of those who arrive from countries with infection rates worse than
Ukraine.

The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the socio-economic
situation in Ukraine, contributing to the 11.4% plunge in second-quarter GDP,
said Josep Borrell, the E.U. high representative for foreign affairs and
security policy, in an article published on Sept. 25 on the
eurointegration.com.ua news site. The record-setting infection rates of
September, often surpassing 3,000 cases daily, will quickly overwhelm Ukraine’s
hospitals if they continue, he wrote. The E.U. has assisted Ukraine in
combatting the pandemic by granting EUR 190 mln as part of the Team Europe
initiative. At the same time, Borrell warned that “the E.U. is not a charity or
cash machine,” and it expects ongoing reforms in governance in return for its
support.The
phrase was subsequently deleted from the text.

The latest Ukraine-E.U. summit, which had been planned
for Oct. 1, has been rescheduled for Oct. 6, E.U. Council President Charles
Michel said in a Sept. 26 tweet after a phone call with Ukrainian President
Zelensky. Michel, who was supposed to arrive in Kyiv for a Sept. 26 visit,
entered into self-isolation on Sept. 22, owing to one of his security personnel
becoming infected with the coronavirus, the eurointegration.com.ua news site
reported on Sept. 26. Michel emerged from quarantine on Sept. 25.

Daily infections of the COVID-19 disease caused by the
coronavirus dropped to 2,671 on Sept. 27, the Health Ministry reported this
morning. That’s compared to 3,130 on Sept. 26 and a new daily record of 3,833
infections set on Sept. 25. Deaths from the disease fell
to 37 on Sept. 27, compared to 56 on Sept. 26 and 76 on Sept. 25. An estimated
108,856 people are currently infected with the COVID-19 disease in Ukraine.

Zenon Zawada: It’s too
early to say that the second wave of the coronavirus is stabilizing in Ukraine
after a new daily record of infections was set on Sept. 25. It will be
important to reopen the country to foreigners this week, though much of the
economic and reputational damage is irreversible from the decision to shut the
border a second time in late August.

The government’s recent attempts to generate
investment interest in Ukraine
are feeble in light of what shutting the border a second time had done (as well
as new records of daily infections being set each week). At least the hospitals
are not reported to be overwhelmed, with 472 new hospitalizations reported
nationwide on Sept. 27.