On 13 May 2020, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine gave an address to the Ukrainian people in which he announced a transition to the mitigation phase of the crisis.

However, he cautioned Ukrainian citizens to continue to wear masks in public:

For three days, we have been living in the first stage of quarantine mitigation. The key word is mitigation. Not cancellation, not end, but mitigation. And it applies only to certain activities.

This does not mean that now everyone can relax: walk without a mask, or gather in large companies, or not keep your distance. Nobody canceled it. […]

Simply put: every time you do not wear a mask and risk infecting other people, you yourself delay the opening of restaurants, beaches and everything else.

Understand – it is not difficult for us to sign a paper and open the subway or allow concerts tomorrow. But what will be the consequences? Million coronavirus patients? And then, instead of mitigation, the quarantine will have to be strengthened.

Ukraine has tested over 200,000 patients for COVID-19, and has 16,847 confirmed cases, including 422 in the last day, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Health. Among the confirmed cases, 1172 children and 3278 physicians. Four hundred and fifty-six people have died as a result of complications caused by the disease, with 86% of fatalities over the age of 50.

Picture of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy visiting the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone on 26 April 2020. Source. CC BY 4.0.