Lockdown may be introduced in Ukraine in December / Photo from UNIAN

Ivano-Frankivsk Mayor Ruslan Martsinkiv, following an online meeting with the prime minister on Thursday, said a lockdown might be introduced in Ukraine in December.

"We talked about the weekend quarantine. The government's position, unfortunately, is unchanged – the weekend quarantine will continue. In addition, an opinion was expressed, including by the prime minister, that this is a planned preparation for a lockdown in our country," the mayor said in a video message posted on Facebook on November 19.

"The dates were announced that this lockdown will be introduced for several weeks on December 10-15 in the worst-case scenario and on December 20-25 in the best-case scenario," he said.

Read alsoOver 60% of Ukrainians oppose introduction of lockdown – pollMartsinkiv added the mayors had decided to meet with the prime minister on a weekly basis to discuss the situation.

"If, God forbid, this lockdown is introduced, it will be a disaster for the economy, especially for small- and medium-sized businesses," he said.

Weekend quarantine in Ukraine

  • On November 11, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to introduce the so-called weekend quarantine starting from November 14.
  • The government repealed the adaptive quarantine system and imposed a nationwide quarantine with curbs for all territories that were in effect in the previous version of the coronavirus quarantine in zones with the orange risk level.
  • On November 17, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, did not back a draft resolution recommending that the Ukrainian government soften the restrictions imposed along with the so-called weekend quarantine.