The website of the Ukrainian state-owned passport company temporarily ceased operations
The website of the state-owned company, Document, which handles the registration and issuance of passports and ID-cards, ceased its work for an indefinite period of time, according to a message that appeared on their website.
"For technical reasons, none of the services of the Passport Service, including registration and issuance of passports and ID-cards, are being conducted," the message says.
The press secretary of the State Enterprise, Document, Volodymyr Polishchuk, stated on channel 112 that the registration and issuing of passports will resume in Kyiv on Tuesday. Over the next week, all 26 centers in the country that provide this service for citizens, as well as centers for administrative services, should resume work.
He said that the service was suspended due to investigative activities by the Security Service of Ukraine. "This is due to the fact that special communication channels are not working properly. Those channels protect our information, which we provide through designated servers to the State Migration Service and other institutions that are engaged in printing documents. According to my information, the SBU is currently conducting an investigation and possibly seizing servers at a number of telecommunications companies that are licensed to provide information to protection services and maintain these secure communication channels," Polishchuk said.
Earlier Poroshenko appealed to Ukrainians regarding the need for visa-free travel.