Russia–Ukraine border
International border / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Russia–Ukraine border is the de jure international boundary between Russia and Ukraine. Over land, the border spans five Russian oblasts and five Ukrainian oblasts. Due to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in early 2014, the de facto border between Russia and Ukraine is different from the legal border recognized by the United Nations. As of 2024[update], Russia is militarily occupying a significant portion of Ukraine.
According to a 2016 statement by Viktor Nazarenko, the head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, the Ukrainian government did not control some 409.3 kilometres (254.3 mi) of the international border with Russia.[1] This stretch of land was formerly controlled by pro-Russian separatists under the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic (see War in Donbas), both of which were annexed by Russia in September 2022, seven months after the beginning of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.[2] Ukraine has also not had authority over the Kerch Strait since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea; the Ukrainian administration was pushed out of Crimea and Russian checkpoints were set up at the boundary with Kherson Oblast.
In 2014, as the Ukrainian government lost Crimea and a portion of the Donbas to Russia and Russian-backed separatists, respectively, it unveiled a plan called "Project Wall" through which it sought to erect a fortified border barrier along the rest of the international border, with the goal of blocking any further Russian incursions into the country. It was estimated that the barrier would cost around US$520 million and take four years to complete. Construction began in 2015,[3] but was suspended due to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
On 1 January 2018, Ukraine introduced biometric controls for Russian citizens entering the country.[4] On 22 March 2018, erstwhile Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko signed a decree into law that required all Russian visitors to inform Ukrainian authorities of their reason for travelling to Ukraine before their date of entry.[4] On 7 November 2018, the Criminal Code of Ukraine was amended to make illegal border crossings by Russians into Ukraine ("to harm the country's interest") punishable by imprisonment for up to three years.[5]
Since 30 November 2018, Ukraine has banned all Russian males aged 16–60 from entering the country, albeit with room for exceptions on humanitarian grounds.[6][7][8][9]
Since 1 March 2020, Ukrainian citizens are required to use their "international passport" when crossing the Ukrainian border to enter Russia,[10] but can continue to use their "internal passport" when returning to Ukraine.[10] Prior to this law, Ukraine allowed the "internal passport" to be used for travel to Russia.