The first criminal case has been opened in Ukraine following an illegal crossing of the state border by a national of Moldova who was detained on December 11, Petro Tsyhykal, chief of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, has said.

"The ice has broken: we have the first criminal case following an illegal crossing of the border!... This is the first but not the last criminal investigation into the illegal border crossing. I am sure that after there are more such official cases, the number of them will diminish," Tsyhykal wrote on Facebook on December 14.

He said a 32-year-old national of Moldova was detained by border guards of the Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky border guards squad of the South regional department of the Border Guard Service when trying to enter Ukraine bypassing the official entry points. Previously, he had been banned from entry into Ukraine for ten years.

The investigations department of the SBU in the Odesa region has launched a criminal investigation into the case under Article 332-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (illicit crossing of the state border of Ukraine), which envisages a penalty of up to three years in prison for the crime. The detainee has been handed over to the SBU for further investigative action.