SMM observes measures related to COVID-19 at checkpoints in Donbas

The OSCE SMM said this in a report issued on March 17, based on information from the monitoring teams received as of 19:30 on March 16, 2020.

“On 16 March, about 20m south of the entry-exit checkpoint (EECP) near Stanytsia Luhanska, the SMM saw a new wooden barrier across the roadway and police officers checking documents. It also saw that neither the shuttle bus nor golf carts between the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge and the EECP were operating,” reads the report.

A Ukrainian Armed Forces officer of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) told the SMM that they would not operate until 3 April 2020, until which time traffic at the EECP would be restricted to entry only for those with permanent registration in government-controlled areas, and exit only for those who reside in non-government-controlled areas.

At the EECPs near Stanytsia Luhanska and Hnutove (government-controlled, 90km south of Donetsk), ten people (majority women, in their thirties through sixties) told the SMM that the new restrictions had prevented them from crossing the contact line to visit family members, attend a funeral, collect their pensions, or return to their residence, which may not necessarily be the place where they are permanently registered.

As reported, 14 cases of Covid-19 infection have been confirmed in Ukraine, two of them were lethal.

The Cabinet of Ministers decided to restrict passenger traffic in Ukraine from March 18 to April 3 in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection. The resolution imposes a ban on rail, air as well as bus intercity and interregional passenger transport services, as well as the operation of subways.

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