KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th May, 2021) US military attachés have visited the Stanytsia Luhanska checkpoint in Ukraine's embattled Donbas and studied the specifics of crossing the line of contact, Ukraine's State Border Guard Service said on Thursday.
"Yesterday, Col. Brandon Presley, newly appointed army attaché at the US embassy in Ukraine, and Col. Paul Schmitt, army attache at the US embassy in Ukraine, visited the Stanytsia Luhanska checkpoint, while being accompanied by Bohdan Hnatiuk, the Luhansk border unit headquarters chief," the statement read.
According to the border service, the attachés were informed about the checkpoint's operation, specifics of passenger traffic, and current coronavirus restrictions.
Hnatiuk noted that although there are seven checkpoints on the line of contact, only Stanytsia Luhanska operates every day, while the others are allegedly being blocked by Donbas militias.
The armed conflict between Ukraine's government and the breakaway regions of Donbas has been ongoing since 2014. In 2015, Ukraine decided to introduce a permit regime with uncontrolled territories in the eastern country. People can enter or leave the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk only through the checkpoints.
