Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that Ukraine will introduce a system requiring Russians to obtain an entry visa from July 1.

Nearly four months after the start of the Russian operation in Ukraine, Zelensky confirmed that the Ukrainian government would adopt a formal resolution on the matter within a day “to counter unprecedented threats to the national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state.”

The decision will end visa-free travel for Russians to Ukraine, which has been in place since the former Soviet republic gained independence in 1991.

“Against the backdrop of the war unleashed by Russia, it is necessary to strengthen control over the entry of Russian citizens into Ukraine,” said Andriy Yermak, head of the presidential administration, stressing that “security is a priority.”

The inhabitants of these two former Soviet Slavic republics, separated by a border of about 2,300 km, are connected by family ties.

The number of Russians coming to Ukraine has plummeted since Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014, followed by a war with Kremlin-backed pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.