Over a dozen European countries have opened their borders to Ukrainians. Yet requirements vary from country to country.
“Fully vaccinated citizens of Ukraine can enjoy visa-free travel again,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on July 2.
Here’s what you need to know before making summer travel plans.
Countries and requirements
Turkey, Moldova, Hungary and Georgia accept Ukraine’s vaccination certificate.
The Foreign Ministry has announced on July 1 that fully vaccinated Ukrainians can now travel to Austria and the Netherlands without the need to quarantine.
Travelers to either country need to have received both doses of any vaccine permitted in Ukraine at least 14 days before going. Ukrainians need to provide a certificate of complete vaccination against COVID-19 in English or the official language of the recipient country.
The same system applies to people who want to go to Hungary.
On June 25, the German Embassy in Ukraine announced that Germany will accept tourists from Ukraine, who have received a full course of vaccine that’s officially certified for use in the EU. Romania has the same conditions for entry.
Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are EU-certified.
Other EU countries and the U.K. either permit Ukrainians with residency permits or require a 10 to 14-day quarantine, depending on the country.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry is in talks with several EU member states like France and Ireland to ease restrictions on Ukrainian travelers.
Ukraine currently provides Pfizer, Sinovac, and AstraZeneca vaccines. The latter is manufactured in South Korea. Previously, many Ukrainians have received their first dose of the AstraZeneca/Covishield vaccine, which came from India.
People looking for a summer vacation on the continent have an abundance of choices.
Popular tourist destinations – Greece, Cyprus, Georgia, Croatia, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria and Slovenia – permit entry from Ukraine with a negative PCR-test taken no later than 72-hours before entry.
Montenegro and Albania don’t require any additional documents for incoming people.
Besides Europe, popular tourist destinations such as Egypt, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Ecuador, Tunisia and parts of Thailand have opened their borders for Ukrainian tourists.
Vaccination in Ukraine
Vaccination in Ukraine began on Feb. 24, and by July 2.2 million people have received the first dose of the vaccine, while 766,718 people received both doses.
So far, Ukraine has received over 4 million doses of various vaccines but expects more supplies soon.
The latest delivery of vaccines took place on June 9, when 66,690 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, purchased with state funds, were delivered in Ukraine. A day before UNICEF delivered 117,000 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to Ukraine as part of the global COVAX initiative. The country is expecting 473,850 more doses soon.
Ukraine will receive several million doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines against coronavirus in July, according to the Ministry of Health.
Ukraine will receive this batch as part of the COVAX initiative, which has allocated 16 million doses to cover 8 million Ukrainians. COVAX has already supplied Ukraine with 2.1 million doses, half of which are made by Pfizer and half by AstraZeneca.
Another batch of Pfizer vaccines will arrive in the country at the end of July, according to Ihor Kuzin, Chief Sanitary Doctor. In early April, Ukraine signed a contract to buy 10 million doses from Pfizer.
In several cities, including Kyiv, anyone registered to be vaccinated through the government app Diya can get vaccinated on the weekends at one of the country’s 50 mass vaccination centers. Kyiv’s mass vaccination center is based inside the International Exhibition Center near the Livoberezhna metro station.
