Ukrainians allowed visa-free travel to EU’s Schengen area

‘Ukrainians have been allowed to make visa-free travel to the European Union’s Schengen Area, amid tensions between the Western-backed country and Russia.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Thursday that the EU had finally decided to approve Ukraine’s years-long bid to obtain visa-free travel for its citizens to Schengen countries, which includes 22 EU members and four non-EU states.
“YES, we did it!” wrote the pro-Western Poroshenko on Facebook, adding, “It feels like coming home after a long and exhausting journey.”
The approval comes nearly three years after Ukrainians, mostly in the capital Kiev and west of the country, revolted against a Russia-backed government. That sparked a massive conflict in south and east of the country, where ethnic Russians decided to join Russia in a referendum and later engaged in a conflict with the Kiev government. More than 10,000 have been killed in the violent conflict in Ukraine’s east.
The visa-free travel is part of broad trade and political agreement sealed between Ukraine and the EU in 2014.’
Read more: Ukrainians allowed visa-free travel to EU’s Schengen area