Ukraine is preparing to extend its visa-free travel agreement with the EU
Ukraine intends to extend its agreement with the European Union on the liberalization of freight transport by the end of 2026.
“Transport visa-free travel” removes a number of restrictions for Ukrainian carriers operating in the EU market. The current agreement is valid until April 2027, but Ukraine plans to extend it for another term.
“We are actively working with the European Commission and EU member states to extend the agreement. But the main thing is to ensure domestic efforts toward the European integration of the road transport sector. First and foremost, we need to update the licensing requirements for access to the road transport market—that is, to ensure our carriers meet EU standards. The draft is ready and is currently awaiting final approval from other agencies. We expect a decision from the government this fall,” Derkach noted.
According to him, thanks to the “transport visa-free regime,” Ukraine is currently able to facilitate not only exports but also imports. In fact, road transport accounts for 40% of exports in monetary terms and 73% of imports, according to data for 2025.
The latest version of the “transport visa-free” agreement was updated so that, in the event of significant violations in the local road transport market, its implementation could be temporarily suspended in a specific geographic region.
This was announced by Serhiy Derkach, First Deputy Minister of Recovery, Infrastructure, and Transport of Ukraine, in a comment to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
Ukraine and Albania are introducing visa-free transport for freight.
Ukraine is launching a visa-free transport regime with Bosnia.
China has extended the visa-free regime for Russian citizens until the end of 2027.
