Overview

Crossing the ‘contact line’ in eastern Ukraine continues to force millions of Ukrainians to endure dire conditions, long waiting hours and constant insecurity from shelling and mine contamination. Of particular concern is the lack of adequate facilities, such as heating/resting points, transportation, medical units and latrines in the “no man’s land” - a 2-km stretch between the EECPs of Government controlled areas (GCA) and Non-Government controlled areas (NGCA).

Over a million individual crossings were recorded in March, a 6 per cent increase compared with the same period in 2017. In mid-March, thousands of civilians, particularly the elderly, children and pregnant women, faced further hardship, while making this journey as they had to walk up to 5 kilometers to the EECPs. This was due to the interruption of ‘irregular’ public transportation to/ from EECPs’, for about 2 weeks. As part of shifting to “spring” season, the operational hours of all EECPs were extended by 2.5 hours, from 07:00 to 18:30