Russia closes 20 border checkpoints on border with Ukraine: State Border Guard Service responds (updated)
The Russian authorities have decided to close 20 border checkpoints with Ukraine starting August 1, 2025.
This was reported by Russian media, including the propaganda outlet TASS, as cited by Censor.NET.
The document was signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
"Close from August 1, 2025, the border checkpoints across the state border of the Russian Federation, established in accordance with the agreement between the government of the Russian Federation and the government of Ukraine on border checkpoints dated February 8, 1995, as listed in the appendix," the document states.
The list includes 13 road and 7 rail checkpoints. Among them are border crossings that have been occupied by Russia since 2022 in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine.
Reaction of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGS)
Colonel Andrii Demchenko, spokesperson for the SBGS, emphasized in a comment to Ukrainska Pravda that all border checkpoints with Russia have been officially closed since the start of the full-scale invasion.
"It’s difficult to understand the logic of the Russians: why, in the fourth year of a full-scale war they initiated, the aggressor state decided to announce the closure of several checkpoints on the border with Ukraine. At the same time, some of these checkpoints are actually located on the border with Ukraine within temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk regions, which Russia seized back in 2014 (such as the Donetsk checkpoint in Rostov region bordering Luhansk - ed.). This also concerns checkpoints in the Voronezh, Bryansk, Kursk, and Belgorod regions of Russia," he noted.
He reminded that since the start of the full-scale invasion, all checkpoints with Russia have been closed and no crossing operations have been conducted there.
Demchenko added that Ukraine remains ready to facilitate the return of Ukrainian citizens at any section of the border, as was done, for example, at the Pokrovka checkpoint in Sumy region, which is currently non-operational.
"Of course, this also depends on Russia and where it is willing to ensure this for Ukrainians," the SBGS spokesperson concluded.
