State Border of Ukraine

The State Border of Ukraine (Державний кордон України, Derzhavnyi Kordon Ukrayiny, for brevity - DerzhKordon) is the international boundary of Ukraine, including ocean territory and airspace. The border is guarded by the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Land boundaries
Ukraine borders seven countries: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Russia, and Belarus, following the original borders demarcated by the Soviet Union. The total length of the Ukrainian border is 6992.98 km. The area of the exclusive economic zone of Ukraine is 72658 km2.

On land, Ukrainian borders stretch for 5637.98 km. Information on the border lengths with specific countries is provided in this table.

Sea boundaries
The southern border of Ukraine stretches as the external boundary of the Ukrainian territorial waters. By sea Ukraine borders with Romania, Turkey and Russia. To the west Romania - Ukraine border stretches from the edge of its land segment across the Black Sea over the distance of 33 km, after that it is a boundary of the Ukrainian territorial waters and the Romanian Economic Zone. The Ukrainian territorial waters include the Snake Island. From there stretches the Ukrainian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) towards the Kerch Strait stretching 22224 m from its Black Sea coast.

At the eastern region of Black Sea to the south of the Kerch Strait the Ukrainian Economic Zone adjoins the Russian Economic Zone in Black Sea. From that point starts the Russia - Ukraine border of territorial water which stretches northward for 22.5 km towards the southern edge of the Kerch Strait. After that the boundary continues as the Russia - Ukraine border though the Kerch Strait (49 km) and over the Azov Sea (249.5 km) where it divides the internal waters of both countries towards the edge of land border on the northern coast of Azov Sea. The total length of the sea border consists of 1355 km, out of which 1056.5 km stretches over the Black Sea.

Disputes with Russia
Disputes on the demarcation of borders with Russia, Belarus, and Moldova (republics of the former Soviet Union) are still unresolved; those with Russia and Belarus even date back to the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

History of negotiations

In 1994, the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances promised, inter alia, that its signatories (the Russian Federation, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom) would respect Ukraine's existing borders. Further negotiations with Russia began in 1998. In 2004, a treaty concerning shared use of Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait was ratified by the parliaments of both countries, but left delimitation of maritime borders subject to follow-up negotiations. It has been argued that Russia was stonewalling these discussions.

In 2010 following the Kharkiv Pact, Ukraine gave the Russian Sea Fleet an exclusive 25-year lease for part of the territory of Sevastopol, although this agreement was dissolved following the occupation and annexation of Crimea.

Crimea
Since the 2014 Russian occupation and annexation of Crimea, Ukraine does not have de facto control of the peninsula, and considers it to be under temporary occupation.

Ukraine and the majority of the international community consider the Crimea to be an autonomous republic of Ukraine and Sevastopol to be one of Ukraine's cities with special status, while Russia, on the other hand, considers the Crimea to be a federal subject of Russia and Sevastopol to be one of Russia's three federal cities since the March 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia. Since 1991 Russia also leases Sevastopol Naval Base with the current lease extending to the 2040s with an option for another extension, but the Russian State Duma approved the denunciation of this lease agreement unanimously by 433 members of parliament on 31 March 2014.

On 1 January 2018 Ukraine introduced biometric controls for Russian citizens entering the country. On 22 March 2018, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree that required Russian citizens and "individuals without citizenship, who come from migration risk countries” (more details were not given) to notify the Ukrainian authorities in advance about their reason for travelling to Ukraine. Since 1 July 2022 Russian citizens need to apply for a visa to enter Ukraine. During the first 4.5 months of the visa regime 10 visas were issued and seven Russian citizens entered Ukraine (mostly for humanitarian reasons).

Southern and Eastern Ukraine
Since the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian military has successfully captured large swaths of territory across Southern and Eastern Ukraine. On September 30, days after the Russian authorities conducted annexation referendums in four oblasts that is nearly universally considered illegitimate, Russian President Putin officially declares that they are now sovereign Russian territory, further disputing the internationally recognized Ukrainian Border.

Snake Island (settled dispute)


From the times of Ukraine gaining its independence, Romania has been contesting Ukraine's claims to Snake Island and parts of their territorial waters, especially their claimed Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

At first, Romania did not recognize Snake Island as sovereign Ukrainian territory, but later discussions regarding its ownership ceased. However, Romania decided to reclassify the island as a rock without the rights on the adjacent territorial waters and EEZ. The island which has an area of 16 ha is strategically important for the control over the Danube delta and the surrounding water areas.

Currently the dispute is settled and the Snake Island was recognized as the part of Ukrainian territory, however its adjacent waters (EEZ of Ukraine) became limited.