Illegal armed groups continue to block the work of the Zolote checkpoint in Luhansk region, which complicates the humanitarian situation in Donbas, the Ukrainian side of the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) has reported.

"The Zolote entry and exit checkpoint near the town of Popasna began its work from October 20, 2017 in a regular mode at 07.00... The checkpoint, from the side of the occupied part of Luhansk region, remained closed from October 20. Illegal armed groups operating there refuse to ensure the crossing of the contact line by the civilian population and vehicles for its part," the press center of the anti-terrorist operation headquarters said on its page on Facebook on October 22.

According to deputy head of the Luhansk regional military and civil administration, Yury Klymenko, there were no official explanations from the militants, but unofficially their representatives appealed to the OSCE monitoring mission and said that at present they were not ready to open the checkpoint on their side due to technical circumstances and unsatisfactory condition of the road surface.

The report notes that the Ukrainian side of the JCCC fully supports the issues of setting up the full-fledged work of the Zolote checkpoint, which will help redistribute part of the passenger traffic and will largely relieve the Stanytsia Luhanska checkpoint. This, in turn, will significantly improve the humanitarian situation in the region and will help repair the bridge at the Stanytsia Luhanska checkpoint, the technical condition of which threatens the safe movement of civilians.