Special regime on the border with Russia and Belarus: what is behind Kyiv's decision

The Ukrainian government has closed the border perimeter from the northern marshes to the eastern borders under a special security perimeter: from now on, every meter of the five-kilometer strip becomes a zone of total control of the military and border guards, where civilian presence is reduced to an absolute minimum.

The border between Ukraine and the aggressor states has finally lost any signs of a normal interstate border, turning into a line of a blind civilizational fault and a zone of permanent fire contact. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has made a fundamental decision to introduce a special border regime along the entire land perimeter with the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. This is not about ordinary bureaucratic formalities or cosmetic changes in the work of checkpoints, which have already been effectively blocked since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. This is a normative consolidation of a new reality: the creation of a continuous militarized strip up to 5 kilometers deep, which is turning into an echeloned combat bridgehead, where any unauthorized activity is subject to immediate neutralization ¹.

The decision of the executive branch was a logical continuation of the amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On the State Border of Ukraine", initiated by the defense sector and supported by the parliament. For a long time, the demarcation line in the north and northeast remained vulnerable to the penetration of sabotage and reconnaissance groups, reconnaissance by enemy correction officers, and the chaotic movement of the local population, who in some places tried to conduct their usual agricultural or logging activities under constant shelling. From now on, the state takes this territory under the iron dome of counterintelligence and engineering and fortification control.

Anatomy of a special regime: what changes in practice

The key innovation of the Cabinet of Ministers' resolution is the establishment of a special permit procedure for entry, stay, residence and performance of any work within the border zone. If previously Ukrainian citizens could freely move through most border areas with an internal passport, now staying within the 5-kilometer zone requires a mandatory written permit from the State Border Service of Ukraine (SBSU) ¹.

This permit has a clear personal link and time limits. The right to unhindered stay is granted exclusively to:

• Persons who are officially registered (have a permanent place of residence) in settlements located directly within the border zone;
• Military personnel of the Defense Forces of Ukraine, employees of law enforcement agencies, emergency and rescue services during the performance of direct official duties;
• Employees of utility, road, and energy services who have confirmed orders to perform emergency and restoration work, coordinated with the military command of the direction.

Any economic activity — from grazing livestock and cultivating land shares to hunting, fishing, or mushroom picking — in this strip is now completely prohibited or requires multi-level approval from the State Border Guard Service and district military administrations. Moreover, the government decree directly prohibits the free entry of vehicles that are not registered with local territorial communities or do not have special permits of the established type ¹.

Two-kilometer fatal rampart: exclusion zone along the border line

If the five-kilometer strip provides for a controlled permit regime for civilian residents, then the strip directly along the state border line with a width of up to 2 kilometers receives the status of a complete exclusion zone ² . In accordance with current legislation, lands within this strip are completely withdrawn from civilian circulation, private ownership and lease and transferred for permanent use to military units of the State Border Service of Ukraine ².

In fact, it is about creating the so-called "kinetic wall" - a continuous zone of engineering barriers that cannot be crossed unnoticed. In this area, the construction of complex fortification systems is underway around the clock:

• Deep anti-tank ditches of standardized dimensions, designed to block the movement of heavy tracked vehicles and armored vehicles;
• Multi-row pyramidal reinforced concrete barriers ("dragon's teeth"), reinforced with high-density "Egoza" type barbed wire;
• Continuous mine-explosive barriers of a mixed type, where anti-personnel minefields alternate with guided anti-tank mine belts;
• Seismic and vibration motion sensors, covert thermal imaging optical surveillance systems, and autonomous radar detection towers for low-altitude air targets.

The presence of civilians in this 2-kilometer strip is not just prohibited — it is deadly dangerous due to continuous mining and the right of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine to open fire without warning if attempts to overcome the barriers are detected from the adjacent territory or unidentified individuals in camouflage ².

The Hostile DRG Factor: Why the Old Regime No Longer Worked

The main tactical trigger for the introduction of such strict restrictions was the catastrophic activity of the sabotage and reconnaissance groups of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) and the Special Purpose Center of the FSB of the Russian Federation in the Chernihiv, Sumy, and Kharkiv regions . ³ Starting from the end of 2023 and throughout 2024–2026, the enemy changed the paradigm of using special forces on the northern border.

Russian saboteurs moved from passive surveillance to open terror: systematic shooting of civilian cars on inter-village roads, blowing up bridges of local importance, attacks on groups of energy workers trying to restore damaged power lines, and ambushes of Territorial Defense Forces fighters. ³ The wooded and swampy terrain of Polissya and the dense plantations of Slobozhanshchyna created ideal conditions for the infiltration of groups of 5 to 12 fighters equipped with silent weapons, large-caliber sniper rifles, and portable mortars.

In the absence of clear control over the civilian perimeter, saboteurs easily disguised themselves as local residents or found abandoned estates on the outskirts of empty villages for a few days of rest. The introduction of a special regime deprives enemy DRGs of the most important thing - a "gray zone" and the opportunity to disappear among random people ¹ . Any person without a verified status in the databases of the State Border Service of Ukraine, who appears in the optics of a drone in the border zone, is automatically considered an enemy with the corresponding consequences ³.

Belarusian vector: closure of the northern abdomen

The situation on the Belarusian section of the border requires a separate analysis. Despite the fact that the Minsk regime formally tries to imitate “neutrality” and declares that it has no plans to directly enter into a military confrontation, the territory of Belarus remains a bridgehead for the Russian military machine . ⁴ Constant joint maneuvers, the redeployment of the RF Armed Forces’ electronic intelligence units, and the presence of Russian aircraft at Belarusian airfields keep the Ukrainian command in constant operational tension.

The introduction of a special regime along the entire Belarusian border — from Volyn to Chernihiv region — solves three strategic tasks:

• Blocking smuggling routes and intelligence channels: For decades, hundreds of uncontrolled trails through the swamps in Polissya were used for the smuggling of excisable goods. Today, these same routes are used by enemy intelligence to transfer couriers, money, and communications to "sleeper" cells deep in Ukraine. ⁴.
• Creating a solid engineering trap: The landscape of the Ukrainian-Belarusian border with its swamps, rivers and forests is a natural obstacle. The special regime allowed the engineering troops to carry out full-scale flooding of individual areas, mine forest clearings and destroy the paths of potential armored columns without the risk of harming the economic activity of the region. ⁴.
• Release of human resources: Thanks to modern technical means of perimeter control and the absence of the need to constantly check hundreds of civilians, the command can optimize the number of garrisons covering the border, redirecting the most combat-ready units to the hottest areas of the front.

Social dimension: life under conditions of military necessity

Of course, the government's decision creates enormous pressure on the daily lives of residents of border villages and towns in Sumy, Chernihiv, and Kharkiv regions . ¹ Many people found themselves faced with a dilemma: either live under constant curfew surveillance, regular checkpoint checks, and a complete ban on traditional farming, or permanently evacuate inland . ⁵

At the same time, the state emphasizes that the special regime is a preventive protection of the civilian population itself. Statistics of shelling with artillery, unguided aerial bombs (UAB) and FPV drones show that Russia is conducting targeted hunting for any moving object near the border line - combines, school buses, ambulances ⁵ . Leaving civilians in the 5-kilometer zone means exposing them to the risk of death every minute. Restricting access stimulates the process of organized evacuation from the most dangerous areas, significantly simplifying the work of the military, who receive a clear operational space to destroy the enemy ⁵.

The Iron Curtain of the 21st Century

The special border regime on the borders with Russia and Belarus is not a temporary measure for a few months . ¹ These are the contours of a new geopolitical reality in Eastern Europe for decades to come. Even after the active phase of hostilities is over, Ukraine’s northern and eastern borders will never return to the format of transparent crossings or friendly neighborliness.

Ukraine is building its own version of the Israeli defense line or the Korean demilitarized zone — only an order of magnitude larger in length and technological equipment . ² From now on, every meter of this land is scanned by sensors, covered by minefields, and under the sights of artillery. This is the price of survival next to a state whose only constant remains military aggression and disregard for international law.

Sources

1. ZN.ua / Government portal: Ukraine has introduced a special regime on the borders with Russia and Belarus, regulatory requirements and permit procedure
2. State Border Service of Ukraine (SBSU): Official clarification regarding the 2-kilometer exclusion zone and the installation of engineering barriers
3. Ministry of Defense of Ukraine / General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: Reports on counteraction to Russian DRGs in the northern and northeastern directions
4. Center of National Resistance (CNR): Analysis of military activity and the threat of infiltration from the territory of the Republic of Belarus
5. Ministry for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine: Evacuation Programs and Security Protocols for Residents of the 5-kilometer Border Zone