As Interfax-Ukraine reports, this was announced by the head of the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Markiyan Lubkivsky. Previously, residents of border settlements could enter Polish territory on the basis of internal passports and stay for up to 7 days. However, from May 25 of this year, the regime of mutual trips of citizens of Ukraine and Poland will be regulated by the Ukrainian-Polish intergovernmental agreement on mutual visa-free trips of citizens of June 25, 1996, the provisions of which determine, in particular, the visa-free procedure for entering the territory of the other state solely on the basis of a standard foreign passport and other documents valid for travel abroad.
As the head of the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported, this procedure will be in effect until July 1, 2003 - the date of the introduction by the Polish side of a visa regime in connection with accession to the European Union. He recalled that on May 24 of last year, the Polish side, through diplomatic channels, handed the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry a note informing of the Polish government's decision to withdraw from the agreement between the USSR and the Polish People's Republic of May 14, 1985, on the simplified procedure for crossing the state border by citizens residing in border settlements. The document ceases to be in force from the moment of notification, that is, from May 24 of this year.
This decision by the Polish government is due to the need to bring the country's migration and visa policy in line with the norms and standards of the European Union on the eve of Poland's accession to the EU.