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Railway communications with Crimea suspended upon security considerations - Kiev

“The level of danger is very high now because subversive acts take place in one or another location practically every day,” Lysenko said

KIEV, December 27. /TASS/. Suspension of railway communications between Ukraine and Crimea has been necessitated by security considerations, Andrei Lysenko, the press secretary of the Ukrainian government’s armed punitive operation in the eastern regions of the country told reporters on Saturday.

“The level of danger is very high now because subversive acts take place in one or another location practically every day,” Lysenko said.

He promised, however, that the measure was temporary. “That’s why we’re asking you to treat it with understanding.”

On December 26, Ukrzaliznytsya /Ukrainian Railways/ state enterprise reported on restrictions “for the purpose of ensuring security” the route leading to the stations of Novoalekseyevka and Kherson.

“The trains departing as of December 27 will terminate at the aforesaid stations,” the report said.

As of December 26, a ban on consigning any cargoes for Crimea and/or receiving cargoes from there was introduced.

Anatoly Tsurkin, the director of the Crimean railway confirmed in a conversation with TASS that Ukraine had stopped the haulage of cargoes and transportation of passengers by railway, although they had not issued any notifications on their plans in advance.

“Also, Kiev cut off its system of railway cargo reservations as of 21:00 hours on December 26,” he said said.

As for the Crimean side, the authorities here did not suspend the dispatching of trains to Ukraine and the sales of tickets for the trains bound for Ukraine continued. “We’re accepting reservations for Kherson, Odessa and Kiev as always. There have been no train cancellations,” Tsurkin said.