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Where are Chinese travelers heading now that borders have reopened?
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(CNN) — Xiongjie Dai, a freelance software engineer living in the Chinese city of Suzhou, dreams about his first big trip post-Covid-19.
The 32-year-old says destinations like South Korea, Europe, Japan, New Zealand and Australia rank high on the list. But he has his eyes set on the US.
“When I have enough money, I’d like to visit America first,” he tells CNN Travel. “America is the leader in both the computer science and IT industries, so I want to visit Silicon Valley and famous universities like MIT, Stanford and so on.”
According to Trip.com Group data, outbound flight bookings increased 254% in late December, the day after it was announced that travel restrictions would be eased as of January 8.
“We are optimistic about the tourism outlook,” Wendy Min, head of media and executive communications at the Trip.com Group, tells CNN Travel.
“The latest policy announcement is encouraging, and we expect strong pent-up demand and increasing consumer confidence.”
Where to first?
Singapore is a top destination for Chinese travelers, according to Trip.com Group data.
Noppasinw/Adobe Stock
The most popular destinations so far are Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and Thailand, based on Trip.com Group bookings. For long-haul destinations, the US, UK and Australia lead the pack.
“The trend we have seen is that short-haul flights are popular due to (lower) prices. Singapore, South Korea and Japan have always been quite popular with Chinese travelers, even pre-Covid,” says Min.
It makes sense for regional travel to recover first, says Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt, CEO of the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI), since it is easier and less expensive to visit nearby destinations.
But the first quarter of 2023 will be almost exclusively urgent non-leisure travel, such as business trips, family reunions, student travel or healthcare needs, he adds.
Chinese business travelers will want to reconnect with the world’s major economies, like the US, Japan and Europe. In addition, destinations like the US, UK and Australia also attract many Chinese students, so some travelers may be planning reunions.
The first wave of leisure travel
According to Arlt, leisure travel will start to pick up in the second quarter of the year when things like passport and visa approval processes are running smoothly, and flights have fully resumed.
“Some leisure travelers will be very motivated to get a passport, visa and affordable ticket. Others will wait and see what stories the ‘pioneers’ have when they return,” he tells CNN Travel.
“The government spent three years making people in China feel afraid of the outside world, so some will still be anxious about whether it’s safe to travel.”
Throughout the pandemic, Chinese state media and the ruling Communist Party have repeatedly highlighted high death tolls in places like the US and UK compared to relatively low figures in China, as proof of the superiority of China’s authoritarian system.
As consumer confidence builds through the first quarter, Arlt expects to see more Chinese travelers taking regional getaways that prioritize well-being, relaxation and nature, probably around April.
“After all the stress and problems, and for many also grief (due to the high Covid-19 death toll in China), it can be expected that many will choose to get away from it all for a long weekend or at some beach resort in Vietnam, Thailand or Cambodia,” says Arlt.
Sienna Parulis-Cook is the director of marketing and communications at the Dragon Trail International digital marketing agency. She points to the Maldives as a beach destination of choice for affluent travelers in 2023.
“The Maldives appeals especially to the luxury market and those looking for a beautiful beach getaway — it’s also a destination that seemed to recover from the impact of Covid relatively quickly compared to other places in the world, so this might play into its popularity now,” she says.
Others will plan trips around hobbies, like mountain biking, hiking, wine-tasting, cooking and calligraphy.
“A lot of Chinese people have had time to develop their special interests (during the past three years),” says Arlt. “The pandemic has proven how fragile and short life can be, so doing meaningful things has become that much more important.”
The most desirable destinations
Luxury lovers have long been drawn to the Maldives.
s4svisuals/Adobe Stock
Before the pandemic, China was the world’s largest outbound travel market by departure numbers and spending. In 2019, Chinese travelers took 154.6 million trips abroad and spent nearly $255 billion, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
Based on COTRI data projections, overseas trips could reach 115 million — a rebound of about three-quarters — by the end of the year, including trips to the Chinese territories of Hong Kong and Macau.
Many of the same destinations will resume their top positions as travel rebounds, Parulis-Cook says.
In 2019, Thailand was the No. 1 most-visited destination by Chinese travelers, welcoming around 11 million Chinese tourists — over a quarter of the country’s overseas arrivals.
Japan came in a close second, drawing 9.5 million Chinese travelers in 2019, according to Japan Tourism Statistics. Vietnam, meanwhile, drew 5.8 million; South Korea, roughly 5.5 million; and Singapore, 3.6 million.
“The destinations that were popular before the pandemic are likely to resume their popularity when China reopens. The Chinese travel industry, and Dragon Trail, definitely expect destinations in Greater China (Hong Kong and Macau), Southeast, and East Asia to recover first,” says Parulis-Cook.
“They’re the closest to China, they have the most-recovered flight connectivity so far, and they are likely to seem safest and easiest for a first post-Covid outbound trip.”
Emerging hotspots and experiences
Chinese travelers have had three years to dream about where they want to go and swap stories with friends, says Arlt, and there’s growing interest in discovering less conventional destinations.
Trip.com’s Min is a case in point.
“I am definitely ready to restart my travel adventures. I typically visited five new countries per year pre-Covid,” she says. “Now that connection and mobility are coming back, I’m looking forward to some solo backpacking and experiencing the world through my own eyes again.”
The travel enthusiast has ambitious plans to explore Cyprus, Oman, Iraq, Rwanda, Madagascar and Namibia in 2023.
“I’ve thought about Central America too but will have to see what time I have,” she says.
Min’s desire to explore less-trodden destinations reflects a larger trend among experienced travelers.
Georgia offers travelers a unique mix of experiences.
Lukas Bischoff/iStockphoto/Getty Images
For example, Arlt says countries like Albania or Georgia are of interest.
Before the pandemic, Albania was just starting to appear on the radar for Chinese travelers. The country has centuries-old villages and authentic rural settings, which appeal to seasoned travelers, he says.
Georgia, meanwhile, attracts with its diverse mix of experiences: an urban adventure in the capital Tbilisi, skiing in the mountains, Black Sea beaches and ancient architecture.
“These are places that are still being discovered,” says Arlt, who will publish a book on the next wave of China’s outbound tourism later this month.
“Paris isn’t impressive anymore. If you tell your friends you’ve been to Albania, they will think you’re very special. That you have taste and a sense of adventure.”
Shifts in travel styles
According to Trip.com Group, Chinese travelers are gravitating towards small groups and independent travel, rather than large tours, and paying more attention to sustainability.
Arlt has observed the same trends.
“There are big changes in the demand and expectations of Chinese outbound travelers,” he says. “Young people in China are very interested in sustainability and green topics, as China is also suffering under the consequences of climate change.”
According to a 2022 Dragon Trail survey, 48.3% of prospective travelers said they would choose accommodation with environmentally friendly operations, 45.5% will choose cruelty-free ways to see wild animals and 37.9% will personally contribute to the local environment by picking up trash or cycling instead of driving.
What’s more, the top reasons to travel overseas were to “try local food” (60.8%), “experience local life” (56%) and “visit beach and sea” (51.8%).
But not everything has changed when it comes to what Chinese travelers want.
“Many post-pandemic trends and preferences in Chinese travel show continuity with (those) developing before the pandemic. Nature and outdoor activities, self-driving (renting cars for road trips), and a shift from large group tours to independent travel are all examples of this,” says Parulis-Cook.
“Seeking out open spaces and nature has been very popular during the pandemic — driven by the desire to get out of cities or away from crowds — but that was a major draw for Chinese outbound tourists before Covid, too.”
For example, a chance to stargaze or experience the aurora (or polar lights) was something that attracted Chinese travelers to places like Norway, Peru, Canada and New Zealand before the pandemic.
“One activity that really took off in China during the Covid era in a way they hadn’t before, is glamping,” she adds. “Glamping and camping was a fresh way to travel locally and be in nature during the pandemic, and it also became a trend on Chinese social media.”
Given its popularity in China, Parulis-Cook would not be surprised if travelers try glamping in places like Japan or Thailand, where local operators have already been advertising to netizens on Chinese social media.
There’s also an appetite for more long-term travel, such as living, studying or pursuing a career abroad, says Arlt.
“A lot of people will travel to different places to decide if they want to move to Singapore, London, Toronto or Sydney. These people probably will be (among the first to travel again).”
Hurdles to entry
The World Health Organization has accused China of “underrepresenting” the severity of its Covid outbreak as top global health officials urge Beijing to share more data about the explosive spread. CNN’s Ivan Watson reports.
Given that China accounted for roughly 14% of the $1.8 trillion in global tourism spending in 2019, many destinations have anxiously awaited the return of the country’s travelers.
But just before China’s reopening, a flurry of entry restrictions and screenings came into effect. The US, Canada, Japan, Australia, India, Italy, the UK and France, among others, have announced plans to require a negative Covid-19 test before departure due to the country’s ongoing wave of infections.
Since China abandoned its zero-Covid policy and began partially reopening late last year, the subsequent Covid outbreak has overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums, and triggered shortages of basic medicines. While the wave may have already peaked in some major cities, rural areas with fewer resources could be hit hard in January, with widespread domestic travel expected during the Lunar New Year holiday period.
Some studies estimate China’s Covid death toll could be in excess of a million if it fails to roll out booster shots and antiviral drugs fast enough.
The World Health Organization has advised against travel restrictions on countries experiencing Covid-19 outbreaks in the past but said it was “understandable” in this case due to a lack of transparent information, and encouraged China to share more data.
In response to the travel restrictions/screenings, International Air Transport Association Director General Willie Walsh issued a statement on January 4, admonishing countries for reinstating measures that have “proven ineffective” while “the virus is already circulating widely within their borders.”
“We have the tools to manage Covid-19 without resorting to ineffective measures that cut off international connectivity, damage economies and destroy jobs,” he says.
Parulis-Cook also expressed concerns about the consequences of targeted entry requirements.
“When travel restrictions are country-specific — travelers from China, India or South Africa, to give some examples from the past years — rather than universal, they are much more effective in creating stigma than preventing the spread of Covid,” she says.
“Chinese travelers will have a lot of choices for their first outbound trip, and destinations without any entry restrictions will appeal to them as friendlier and easier to travel to.”
Arlt offers a different perspective.
“I see all this discussion that Chinese travelers will feel uncomfortable having to do a test before departure to many destinations and will prefer destinations which do not ask for a test,” he says.
“Actually, they are not only used to testing and getting tests for free in China, they will also be happy to know that all the other passengers in their airplane have tested negatively as well.”
Oil jumps 3% on demand optimism as China borders reopen
LONDON, Jan 9 (Reuters) – Oil extended gains on Monday, rising more than 3% after China’s move to reopen its borders boosted the outlook for fuel demand and overshadowed global recession concerns.
The rally was part of a wider boost for risk sentiment supported by both the reopening of the world’s biggest crude importer and hopes for less-aggressive increases to U.S. interest rates, with equities rising and the dollar weakening.
Brent crude was up $2.38, or 3.03%, at $80.95 a barrel by 1312 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose $2.36, or 3.2%, to $76.13.
“If recession is avoided, global oil demand and demand growth will remain resilient,” said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM, adding that developments in China were the main reason for Monday’s gains.
“The gradual reopening of the Chinese economy will provide an additional and immeasurable layer of price support,” he said.
The rally followed a drop last week of more than 8% for both oil benchmarks, their biggest weekly declines at the start of a year since 2016.
As part of a “new phase” in the fight against COVID-19, China opened its borders over the weekend for the first time in three years. Domestically, about 2 billion trips are expected during the Lunar New Year season, nearly double last year’s and 70% of 2019 levels, Beijing says.
In oil-specific developments, China issued a second batch of 2023 crude import quotas, according to sources and documents reviewed by Reuters, raising the total for this year by 20% from the same time last year.
Despite Monday’s oil rebound, there is still concern that the massive flow of Chinese travellers could cause another surge in COVID infections while broader economic concerns also linger.
Those concerns are reflected in oil’s market structure. Both the near-term Brent and U.S. crude contracts are trading at a discount to the next month, a structure known as contango, which typically indicates bearish sentiment. ,
Reporting by Alex Lawler
Additional reporting by Florence Tan and Jeslyn Lerh
Editing by David Goodman
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
China reopens borders in final farewell to zero-COVID
HONG KONG/BEIJING, Jan 8 (Reuters) – Travellers began streaming into mainland China by air, land and sea on Sunday, many eager for long-awaited reunions, as Beijing opened borders that have been all but shut since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After three years, mainland China opened sea and land crossings with Hong Kong and ended a requirement for incoming travellers to quarantine, dismantling a final pillar of a zero-COVID policy that had shielded China’s people from the virus but also cut them off from the rest of the world.
China’s easing over the past month of one of the world’s tightest COVID regimes followed historic protests against a policy that included frequent testing, curbs on movement and mass lockdowns that heavily damaged the second-biggest economy.
Long queues formed at Hong Kong’s international airport for flights to mainland cities including Beijing, Tianjin and Xiamen and some Hong Kong media outlets estimated that thousands of people were travelling across.
“I’m so happy, so happy, so excited. I haven’t seen my parents for many years,” said Hong Kong resident Teresa Chow as she and dozens of other travellers prepared to cross into mainland China from Hong Kong’s Lok Ma Chau checkpoint early on Sunday.
“My parents are not in good health, and I couldn’t go back to see them even when they had colon cancer, so I’m really happy to go back and see them now,” she said, adding that she plans to head to her hometown in eastern China’s Ningbo city.
Investors hope the reopening will eventually reinvigorate a $17-trillion economy suffering its lowest growth in nearly half a century. But the abrupt policy reversal has triggered a massive wave of infections that is overwhelming some hospitals and causing business disruptions.
The border opening follows Saturday’s start of “chun yun”, the first 40-day period of Lunar New Year travel, which before the pandemic was the world’s largest annual migration of people returning to their hometowns of taking holidays with family.
Some 2 billion trips are expected to be made this season, nearly double last year’s movement and recovering to 70% of 2019 levels, the government says.
Many Chinese are also expected to start travelling abroad, a long-awaited shift for tourist spots in countries such as Thailand and Indonesia, though several governments – worried about China’s COVID spike – are imposing curbs on travellers from the country.
Travel will not quickly return to pre-pandemic levels due to such factors as a dearth of international flights, analysts say.
China on Sunday also resumed issuing passports and travel visas for mainland residents, and ordinary visas and residence permits for foreigners. Beijing has quotas on the number of people who can travel between Hong Kong and China each day.
VISITORS, HOMECOMINGS
At the Beijing Capital International Airport, families and friends exchanged emotional hugs and greetings with passengers arriving from Hong Kong, Warsaw and Frankfurt at the airport’s terminal 3, meetings at the arrival hall that would have been impossible just a day ago due to a now cancelled requirement for travellers from abroad to quarantine.
“I’ve been looking forward to the reopening for a long time. Finally we are reconnected with the world. I’m thrilled, I can’t believe it’s happening,” said a business woman surnamed Shen, 55, who flew in from Hong Kong.
Other people waiting at the airport included a group of females fans carrying long lens cameras in hope of catching a glimpse of South Korean boy band Tempest, the first idol group from South Korea to enter China in the past three years.
“It’s so good to see them in person! They are much more handsome and taller than I expected,” a 19-year-old who gave her name as Xiny told Reuters after chasing the seven-member boyband, who flew in from Seoul via the Chinese city of Dalian.
“With quarantine restrictions lifted, it’s going to be so much more convenient to fly over to see them, and for them to come to Beijing,” she said.
PROTESTS
Such scenes of reunions, however, jarred with others of protests in some cities around China over the weekend, in a reminder of how the economy remains under strain.
Protests are not rare in China, which has over the years seen people come out in large numbers over issues such as financial or property scams. But authorities have been on higher alert after widespread protests in Chinese cities and top universities at the end of November against COVID restrictions.
On Saturday, hundreds of Tesla (TSLA.O) owners gathered at the automaker’s showrooms and distribution centres in China to protest against its decision to slash prices for the second time in three months, a move it made to spur sales at a time of faltering demand in the world’s largest auto market.
(This story has been refiled to correct paragraph 9 to say 2 billion trips to be made, not 2 billion people to travel)
Reporting by Joyce Zhou in Hong Kong, Yew Lun Tian and Josh Arslan in Beijing; Writing by Brenda Goh in Shanghai; Editing by William Mallard
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
China to Open Borders as Covid-19 Cases Rise
BEIJING—Chinese health authorities plan to lift Covid-19 quarantine requirements on international arrivals early next month, taking one of the country’s biggest steps to ease restrictions since the pandemic began even as case numbers remain high.
China has maintained among the world’s most restrictive coronavirus lockdown measures, slowing its economy significantly and sparking anger. Following waves of protests this fall, authorities abruptly abandoned the country’s stringent zero-Covid-19 strategy early this month.
From Jan. 8, China will scrap all quarantine measures for Covid-19, including requirements for inbound visitors, both foreigners and Chinese nationals, according to the National Health Commission.
The commission late Monday issued a plan to stop treating Covid-19 as a “Class A” infectious disease, which calls for stringent control measures, and downgrade the management of the virus to “Class B,” which requires more basic treatment and prevention. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that China was weighing such a move, which would give it room to further loosen public-health measures.
The change means people traveling to China from abroad will need to have only a negative Covid-19 test within 48 hours to be allowed into the country, the NHC said. International arrivals will no longer be required to be tested on arrival or undergo quarantine—a major step toward opening up for a country that has been largely closed off to the outside world for three years.
The commission in its statement pledged to facilitate foreigners’ visits to China, including those for business, studying and family reunions, and to provide visa assistance.
The shift came as fever clinics and hospital emergency rooms in Beijing continued to overflow with patients on Monday and Chinese leader
Xi Jinping
called on local officials to take pains to save lives.
Before Monday’s loosening of Covid restrictions, Mr. Xi addressed his country’s new pandemic reality for the first time in comments marking the 70th anniversary of the Patriotic Health Movement, a campaign to wipe out flies and mosquitoes launched by
Mao Zedong
during the Korean War to fortify China against the possibility of American germ warfare.
“At present, our country’s Covid prevention and control efforts are facing new circumstances and a new mission,” Mr. Xi said. China should launch “a more targeted Patriotic Health Movement” to “effectively guarantee the lives and health of the people.”
Visits to three major hospitals in Beijing by the Journal on Monday showed the capital’s healthcare system still swamped with an influx of patients following the government’s about-face on Covid-19 controls, which has left many citizens, especially the elderly, scrambling to find treatment.
In the emergency room of eastern Beijing’s Chaoyang Hospital, known for treating respiratory diseases, hallways at the intensive-care unit were packed with dozens of elderly patients lying on portable beds. One nurse said all the ICU beds were full and only patients with the most life-threatening symptoms were being admitted. “Those patients with less severe symptoms can only get a temporary bed and stay in the hallway,” she said.
To cope with the surge in patients, Beijing’s Chaoyang Hospital opened a second fever clinic in a nearby sports stadium for some Covid-19 patients.
Photo:
Chen Zhonghao/Zuma Press
On Monday, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report showing fewer than 2,700 new infections and no new deaths on Christmas Day. Over the weekend, local officials presented a much grimmer picture.
A senior health official in the coastal province of Zhejiang, home to e-commerce giant
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
, said on Sunday that new daily infections had topped one million, with the wave expected to peak at around two million cases around New Year’s Day.
Roughly half a million people were being infected every day in the northeastern city of Qingdao, a local health official said in a since-removed interview with a state-owned broadcaster.
To minimize the impact of the infection surge on China’s already battered economy, some cities said people could return to work even if they had mild symptoms. Authorities in Shanghai said Saturday that the city’s 25 million residents wouldn’t need to be isolated at home for more than seven days, even if they are still testing positive.
Rapid transmission of Covid-19 in China raises the likelihood for fresh outbreaks beyond its borders and the emergence of risky virus variants, said
Michael Osterholm,
director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.
“New variants are a huge possibility, and they could have a tremendous impact on the rest of the world,” Dr. Osterholm said.
In his own comments marking the anniversary of the Patriotic Health Campaign, which evolved over the years to target infectious diseases such as malaria, China’s Premier
Li Keqiang
said adjustments to the country’s Covid-19 policies were being implemented in an orderly manner, but urged officials at every level of government to address public demands for medical care and supplies.
China’s health system, thinly resourced even before the pandemic, has struggled to contend with the fast-spreading Omicron variant. The growth in infections has sent people scrambling to buy up home test kits along with ibuprofen and other medications.
At Chaoyang Hospital’s emergency room on Monday, digital screens showed a long wait list for people seeking treatment at the internal-medicine department. In an interview last week with China’s state broadcaster, Mei Xue, deputy director of the hospital’s emergency department, said around 400 patients were coming seeking internal medicine treatment every day—roughly four times the normal number.
“These patients are all elderly people with underlying diseases. After the combination of fever and respiratory infection, they are all very seriously ill,” he said.
A staffer with Beijing’s emergency medical center, which coordinates requests for urgent medical care in the city, said he and his colleagues had been working nonstop to transfer patients to Chaoyang Hospital in recent weeks and he expected the current situation to last for a few more weeks.
To cope with the surge in patients, the hospital has opened a second fever clinic in a nearby sports stadium for Covid-19 patients with mild symptoms.
Peking Union Medical College Hospital and Peking University First Hospital, both located in the center of Beijing, were similarly overwhelmed.
A sign outside the Peking Union emergency room warned patients it could take more than four hours to see a doctor. A nurse at Peking Union’s fever clinic said that for weeks patients had been forced to wait in the hallways for beds to open up. One elderly patient, unable to secure a bed, was lying on a metal bench just inside the entrance of the fever clinic.
A nurse at Peking University First Hospital’s emergency room said beds there were all full and the wait time at the internal medicine department was roughly six hours. The hospital public address system announced that nearly 50 patients were waiting to be seen.
In recent weeks, doctors and nurses from around China have been dispatched to Beijing to support the capital. Shandong province sent a team of medical staff to Beijing, according to state media reports.
In the U.S., the State Department on Friday updated its travel advisory and is asking that people reconsider travel to China due to the surge in Covid-19 cases, arbitrary enforcement of local laws and Covid-19-related restrictions.
—Xiao Xiao and Dominique Mosbergen contributed to this article.
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Ukraine watchful of borders as Putin heads to Belarus
KYIV, Dec 19 (Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine was ready for all possible defence scenarios against Moscow and its ally Belarus, as Russia’s Vladimir Putin headed to Belarus and Russian troops stationed there prepared to conduct exercises.
Officials in Kyiv have warned for months that neighbouring Belarus could join Russian forces and serve again as a launching pad for a new attack to form a second front in the months-long war.
“Protecting our border, both with Russia and Belarus – is our constant priority,” Zelenskiy said after a meeting on Sunday of Ukraine’s top military command. “We are preparing for all possible defence scenarios.”
Putin heads to Belarus on Monday for his first visit in 3-1/2 years with the Kremlin describing it as a broad “working visit” with Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Belarus – one of Russia’s closest allies- allowed its territory to be used as a launchpad for Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, but has not joined the fighting directly. Lukashenko has said repeatedly he has no intention of sending his country’s troops into Ukraine.
Whatever Lukashenko might be persuaded to do for Russia “this will not help them, just like all the other sick ideas in this war against Ukraine and Ukrainians,” Zelenskiy said.
Russian troops that were moved to Belarus in October will conduct battalion tactical exercises, the Russian Interfax news agency reported, citing the Russian defence ministry.
It was not immediately clear when and where in Belarus the exercises will be conducted.
AIR RAIDS
Kyiv and surrounding areas came under attack again early on Monday, with the Ukrainian capital’s military administration saying nine Iranian-made Shahed drones were shot down in Kyiv’s airspace.
“Air defence systems are at work in the region,” Oleksiy Kuleba, governor of the Kyiv region said on Telegram. “Stay in shelters and safe places until the alarm is over. Take care of yourself and loved ones.”
Several loud blasts were heard, but it was not immediately clear whether they were air defence systems destroying the drones or drones hitting their targets.
Zelenskiy on Sunday again called for Western nations to beef up Ukraine’s air defences after weeks of Russian air strikes targeted the country’s energy network as a freezing winter settles in.
Zelenskiy said power had been restored to three million more Ukrainians in the past 24 hours following a massive missile attack on electricity infrastructure on Friday that killed three people and damaged nine power facilities.
“Electricity supplies have been restored to a further three million Ukrainians,” he said. “Plus six million yesterday. That means after the terrorist strikes on Friday, we have results already for nine million of our people.”
The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and driven millions from their homes.
Zelenskiy told Ukrainians the armed forces were holding firm in the town of Bakhmut – scene of the fiercest fighting in the country for many weeks as Russia attempts to advance in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
“The battlefield in Bakhmut is critical,” he said. “We control the town even though the occupiers are doing everything so that no undamaged wall will remain standing.”
Denis Pushilin, Russian-installed administrator of the portion of the Donetsk region controlled by Moscow, said that Ukrainian forces shelled a hospital in the Donetsk city, killing one person and injuring several others.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield accounts.
KISSINGER CALLS FOR NEGOTIATION
Putin casts what he calls Russia’s “special military operation” as a watershed moment when Moscow finally stood up to a Western bloc, led by the United States, seeking to capitalize on the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union by destroying Russia.
Kyiv and the West say Putin has no justification for what they have decried as an imperial-style war of occupation that has resulted in Russia now controlling around a fifth of Ukraine.
Henry Kissinger, an architect of the Cold War policy of detente towards the Soviet Union as secretary of state in the 1970s, said the time was approaching for a negotiated peace.
“The time is approaching to build on the strategic changes which have already been accomplished and to integrate them into a new structure towards achieving peace through negotiation,” Kissinger wrote in The Spectator magazine.
Ukraine rejected the proposal, saying it amounted to appeasing the aggressor by sacrificing parts of Ukraine.
“All supporters of simple solutions should remember the obvious: any agreement with the devil – a bad peace at the expense of Ukrainian territories – will be a victory for Putin and a recipe for success for autocrats around the world,” Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said on Telegram.
Kremlin officials were not available for comment late on Sunday.
Reporting by Reuters bureaus
Writing by Lincoln Feast
Editing by Shri Navaratnam
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Long lines of traffic seen at some of Russia’s land borders
Wives of some of the scores of Ukrainian fighters released by Russia in a prisoner swap have described to CNN the disbelief and joy of hearing their loved ones had been released.
Alina Volovyk, speaking with CNN via WhatsApp, described getting a phone call from a man she did not recognize at first as her husband, Artem Volovyk, a Ukrainian Marine who fought at the Azovstal Steel Plant earlier this year, before all of Mariupol was captured by Russian forces.
“At first, I didn’t understand what was going on and where he was,” Alina Volovyk recalled. “But he said, ‘Honey, I’m already in Ukraine! There was a swap.’”
“I just started screaming, my hands were shaking,” she said. “Now I am the happiest woman in the world.”
Russia on Wednesday released 215 people from its custody, including some foreign nationals who had been fighting for Ukraine. In exchange, Ukraine released 55 people, as well as Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-Russian Ukrainian politician and oligarch, whose daughter is goddaughter to Vladimir Putin.
Among the 215 people released by Russia were “188 heroes of Azovstal and Mariupol,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said overnight.
The release of the Azovstal and Mariupol fighters is a major coup for Ukrainian morale, given the huge role the defense of Mariupol played in the Ukrainian psyche early in the war.
This is the largest single release of fighters from Mariupol. In a June prisoner swap, Russia released 144 soldiers, among whom 95 had defended the Azovstal plant.
Ruslana Volynska, whose husband Serhii “Volyna” Volynskyi, was acting commander of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade, told CNN via text message that she found out about the swap on the Internet.
“Later Serhii called himself, and I heard him. It was boundless joy, shock, happiness! All emotions were mixed! I cried with happiness, and could not believe that this day had come,” she said.
An advisor to Mariupol’s Ukrainian mayor, Petro Andriushchenko, who was forced to leave his city as Russia advanced, said on Telegram that Mariupol “rejoices the return of its Heroes to Ukrainian soil. Even in the occupation!”
“I still can’t believe it,” Alina Volovyk told CNN. “It seems to me that this is a dream and I will wake up soon. I couldn’t sleep until 5 a.m., because I was overwhelmed with emotions.”
“Only two hours ago, when I was doing some shopping, I realized that my husband was at home and started to cry. The only thing I want now is to hug him as soon as possible,” she added.
Baltic nations close borders to Russians over Ukraine war
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania closed their borders Monday to most Russian citizens in response to the wide domestic support in Russia for the war in Ukraine.
Under the coordinated travel ban, Russians wishing to travel to the Baltic countries or Poland as tourists or for business, sports or cultural purposes will not be allowed in even if they hold valid visas for the European Union’s checks-free Schengen Area.
The prime ministers of the three Baltic nations and Poland agreed earlier this month to stop admitting Russian citizens, saying the move would protect the security of the European Union nations neighboring Russia.
“Russia is an unpredictable and aggressive state. Three-quarters of its citizens support the war. It is unacceptable that people who support the war can freely travel around the world, into Lithuania, the EU,” Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite said Monday.
“Such support for hostilities can pose threats to the security of our country and the EU as a whole,” she added.
The ban includes exceptions for humanitarian reasons, family members of EU citizens, Russian dissidents, serving diplomats, transportation employees and Russians with residence permits or long-stay national visas from the 26 Schengen countries.
There were no indications of new travel restrictions Monday for Russians seeking to enter Poland, even though the country agreed with the Baltic countries to introduce the ban by Sept. 19. Poland, which borders Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave, still has tight restrictions on Russian travelers remaining from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the eastern Polish city of Bialystok, a member of the Russian Culture and Education Association in Poland said a new ban would have hit much harder if the pandemic restrictions had not already largely limited travel with Russia.
“After more than two years of restrictions, we see no prospects for an improvement, and that is the worst part,” Andrzej Romanczuk, a Polish citizen, told The Associated Press.
He said regions on both sides of Poland’s border with Kaliningrad will be hit economically because border traffic there drives local trade. Russians also shop in Polish cities like Warsaw or Krakow.
Over 65,000 Russians have crossed into Poland this year, similar to the same period last year but 10 times smaller than before the pandemic.
The Lithuanian Interior Ministry said 11 Russian citizens were stopped from entering that country starting at midnight. Most were trying to enter by land from Kaliningrad or from Belarus. No incidents were reported.
Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu told the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat that Russian travels posed security concerns because “we know that Russian spies have used fake IDs and carried out various activities in Europe using tourist visas.”
Estonia, a nation of 1.3 million, has registered hundreds of thousands of border crossings by Russian citizens since the start of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The Baltic countries cannot, however, stop Russian citizens from entering via another Schengen nation. They want similar travel restrictions to be taken by all 27 EU member states.
The EU already has banned air travel from Russia after it invaded Ukraine. But before the ban, Russians could still travel by land to Estonia and apparently were then taking flights to other European destinations.
At a EU summit last month, the bloc’s 27 members were divided over whether to slap a broad visa ban on Russian citizens, torn between a desire to ramp up pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin and concerns about punishing ordinary Russians who may not even support his war on Ukraine.
The EU already tightened visa restrictions on Russian officials and businesspeople in May, but Poland and the Baltic countries have called for a broader ban on tourists. Germany and France are leading a push to tighten visa restrictions on Russians rather than impose an outright ban.
Czechia, which does not share a border with Russia, was one of the first EU countries to stop issuing visas to Russian citizens, approving the measure the day after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.
The three Baltic states were once republics in the Soviet Union, while Poland and Czechia — then part of Czechoslovakia — were Moscow’s satellites. That and earlier history makes them especially sensitive to Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine.
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Follow all AP stories on developments related to the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.
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AP writers Jan Olsen in Copenhagen, Liudas Dapkus in Vilnius, Lithuania, Jari Tanner in Tallinn, Estonia, and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed.
New Zealand’s borders fully open after long pandemic closure
FILE PHOTO – People prepare to go fishing from the Orakei Wharf as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown restrictions are eased in Auckland, New Zealand, November 10, 2021. REUTERS/Fiona Goodall
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WELLINGTON, Aug 1 (Reuters) – New Zealand’s borders fully re-opened to visitors from around the world on Monday, for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic closed them in March 2020.
New Zealand’s borders started reopening in February first for New Zealanders and restrictions have progressively eased.
The process of reopening the borders ended last night with visitors who need visas and those on student visas now also allowed to return to New Zealand. New Zealand is now also letting cruise ships and foreign recreational yachts docks at its ports.
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Most visitors arriving in New Zealand still need to be vaccinated against COVID and must take two COVID tests after arriving. However, there are no quarantine requirements.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday during a speech at the China Business Summit in Auckland that the final staged opening of the borders had been an enormous moment.
“It’s been a staged and cautious process on our part since February as we, alongside the rest of the world continue to manage a very live global pandemic, while keeping our people safe.”
International students were a significant contributor to New Zealand’s economy and educational providers are hoping the reopening of the borders will again provide a boost to schools and universities around the country.
New Zealand Tourism Minister Stuart Nash said the return of cruise ships will also be a boost for local industries.
“Most cruise visits are during the warmer months of October to April, and summer is our bumper tourism season overall. This means it will be full steam ahead for the industry,” said Nash.
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Reporting by Lucy Craymer; Editing by Sandra Maler and Michael Perry
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