The U.S. has lowered travel risk levels for nine regions in Ukraine.

The U.S. State Department has updated its travel recommendations for Ukraine, lowering the risk level for nine regions. This is stated in the new edition of the guidelines on the State Department's website.

Overall, the highest warning level—level four—remains in effect for all of Ukraine, advising U.S. citizens to avoid travel due to the state of war. However, for regions with a more stable situation, the risk level has been reduced to level three. These regions include Volyn, Lviv, Transcarpathia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Ternopil, Rivne, Khmelnytskyi, and Zhytomyr. The agency notes that the stability of these areas is supported by air defense systems and their distance from active combat operations.

“The U.S. State Department continues to recommend that U.S. citizens refrain from traveling to frontline regions of Ukraine and areas along the Ukrainian border with Belarus due to the presence of Russian and Belarusian military and security forces on the Belarusian side of the border, proximity to active ground combat, frequent shelling, missile and drone attacks on populated areas and civilian infrastructure, as well as limited capacity for the embassy to assist U.S. citizens in these areas,” the statement said.

The Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova noted that this decision will facilitate visits to Ukraine by representatives of businesses, organizations, and institutions: “I sincerely thank our American colleagues for this decision. We will continue to work on increasing weapons, air defense, and regional cooperation to achieve victory faster and boost investments and business activity. This is the only path to self-sufficiency.

Along with the recent lifting of the effective prohibition by the administration on American defense contractors from conducting work in Ukraine, this opens up significant opportunities for developing new entrepreneurial ventures directly on Ukrainian territory,” Markarova wrote on Facebook.

The diplomat also reminded that last week, the administration of Joe Biden lifted restrictions on American military contractors working in Ukraine. This opens new opportunities for the maintenance and repair of military equipment provided to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, directly on Ukrainian soil.