The Verkhovna Rada decided to expand the border strip along the state border line with Russia and Belarus to 2 km, and also determined the procedure for involving units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) to perform tasks to strengthen its protection.

The adoption of relevant bill No. 7475 was supported by 310 deputies at the plenary session on Friday, said Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a member of the Holos faction, on his Telegram channel.

The document provides for an increase of up to 2 km in the size of the land required for the engineering arrangement of the state border with the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus and on nature-protected lands.

The bill also proposes to regulate the procedure and methods of involving military units and units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to perform tasks related to strengthening the protection of the state border. In particular, it’s about the possibility of creating fire support posts, artillery and aviation units, selecting biometrics from all crossing the state border with checking them at checkpoints and facial recognition. According to the draft law, a special permissive border regime can be established in Ukraine within a two-kilometer zone.

In addition, the proposed amendments to a number of relevant laws will prevent abuse of the procedure for obtaining refugee status by persons who are prohibited from entering Ukraine or who pose a threat to the country's border security.