Ukrainian authorities informed how long the single checkpoint at the border with Russia will be closed

Kolotylivka-Pokrovka, the single checkpoint on the Ukrainian-Russian border through which residents of the occupied territory could return to the government-controlled territory of Ukraine, is closed for at least ten days.

Iryna Vereshchuk, minister for the reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, announced this during a national TV marathon, Realna Gazeta reported. 

“The Russian army is shelling our territories. Today, the humanitarian corridor Kolotylivka-Pokrovka is temporarily closed. According to our military, it will be closed for at least ten days. We will see what happens next,” Vereshchuk said.

She explained that the border checkpoint was closed due to the proximity of hostilities.

The Kolotylivka-Pokrovka checkpoint allowed Ukrainian citizens to leave the occupied territory for the non-occupied territory of Ukraine via Russia without using a long and expensive route through the European Union.

The distance between Sudzha, a district (county) centre in the Russian border region of Kursk, where fighting is currently taking place, and Kolotylivka is over 40 kilometres. At the same time, Russians are shelling the border areas of the Ukrainian Sumy region, where the checkpoint is located.

Currently, the single border checkpoint between Ukraine and Belarus – Mokrany-Domianove – is still open.