![]() ![]() Most come from Ukrainian territories that Russian forces have seized during the large-scale invasion - including many from occupied areas of the southern Kherson region, which was hit by a devastating flood after the breach of the Kakhovka dam in June - but some have made their way from Crimea or parts of the Donbas that have been outside of government control since 2014, or from Russia itself.Īccording to Alyona Lunova, director of the Kyiv-based Zmina human rights center, there are at least 5 million Ukrainians living in Russian-occupied territories. Many of the travelers have no passport or other documents recognized by Ukraine, which is in many cases the crucial reason to choose this route rather than a detour through Europe. On the other hand, according to Ukrainian sources in contact with the Russian side, the passage in the Sumy region may be soon closed, at least temporarily, as it has already been twice. There is no official agreement between Kyiv and Moscow in place, and from the point of view of international law the passage is not a border crossing but a humanitarian corridor, Kateryna Rashevska, a legal expert at the Regional Center for Human Rights, an NGO, told RFE/RL.īorder guard spokesman Andriy Demchenko recently announced other similar crossings will be available soon. Over 10,000 people have entered Ukraine through the Kolotylivka-Pokrovka border crossing since it started to operate in August. They are then picked up by an evacuation bus, driven to the nearby village of Krasnopillya, and subjected to another round of checks - this time carried out by Ukrainian border guards and security officers. Travelers making the crossing almost always reach the Ukrainian side late in the evening. The crossing is considered relatively safe, but people walking into Ukraine have sometimes had to scramble to take cover in ditches due to artillery shelling along the border. The elderly and those with limited mobility struggle to get through. ![]() ![]() Once let out, they must walk down a gravel road in no-man's land, carrying all their personal belongings because Russia prohibited passage by car in retaliation for cross-border incursions into Belgorod in May. Their phones are screened, fingerprints taken, and sometimes they are ordered to strip. People arriving at the Russian checkpoints, often after lengthy travels, go through hourslong "filtration" procedures they are searched by Russian border guards and questioned by Federal Security Service (FSB) officers. People entering Ukraine from Russia must go through checks on both the Russian and Ukrainian side. More than 100 people pass through daily and over 10,000 people have used it since August, according to Ukrainian officials. Nearly 20 months after the invasion, steady streams of people use those routes and travel companies offer bus services for the trips.īut the most direct route into Ukraine, through the Kolotylivka-Pokrovka crossing, has gained popularity in recent months. Since then, the only formal options left for Ukrainians who wanted to return from Russia or Russian-held territory have been long and costly detours through Europe by sea from occupied Crimea or by land via Russia and then Belarus, the Baltic countries, or Georgia. For several months, displaced people were able to cross the front line from Russian-occupied territory inside Ukraine in a few places, often risking detention or death from shellfire, but the last of such routes, in the southern Zaporizhzhya region, was closed last autumn. Travel in the opposite direction is not possible.Īfter Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine officially closed all its border crossings with Russia and Belarus. The small Kolotylivka-Pokrovka border crossing, between Russia's Belgorod region and Ukraine's Sumy region, is the only place where Ukrainians can enter government-controlled Ukrainian territory from Russia. Valeriy had left Donetsk, the largest city in the Donbas seized by Moscow-backed forces in 2014, just that morning. Natalya had been in Enerhodar, home to Europe's largest nuclear power plant, now occupied by Russia, just two days earlier. KRASNOPILLYA, Ukraine - Their paths crossed at a volunteer center a short drive from the Russian border: Bohdan, an athletic, shaven-headed 17-year-old with a wide smile Natalya, an exhausted middle-aged woman barely holding back tears and Valeriy, a spry, smartly dressed pensioner.Ī few hours earlier, they had all been on the other side.īohdan came a long way, from Khanty-Mansiysk in western Siberia, where he had gone with his mother to join relatives after the war forced them out of Kostyantynivka, their hometown in Ukraine's east.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |