On August 21, 2026, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine officially clarified the procedure for checking documents for women at the state border. In a comment to RBC-Ukraine, SBCU spokesperson Andriy Demchenko directly answered the question of whether inspectors can require women to show the 'Reserve+' app when crossing the border: 'No, it is not checked.' This clarification came amid a growing number of reports from Ukrainian women who, in certain European Union countries, faced demands to provide data from the app during document processing. The service described the situation at border crossing points, where uniformed border guards check documents and coordinate the movement of vehicles and passengers, as strictly regulated.
Official Position of the SBCU
According to the representative of the border guard service, current Ukrainian legislation does not establish any restrictions on leaving the country or additional requirements for checking special documents specifically for women. Demchenko emphasized that for each category of citizens, the rules for crossing the border and the list of documents that inspectors are entitled to check are clearly defined. 'Restrictions on leaving Ukraine for women or any specific features regarding the checking of certain documents are not established by legislation,' he added. Thus, on the Ukrainian side of the border, the 'Reserve+' app for women is not a document subject to mandatory inspection.
What the legislation says about women leaving
The key emphasis in the SBCU statement is on the legal basis: the order of control at the border is determined not by arbitrary decisions of individual inspectors, but by legal norms that differentiate categories of citizens. For women, unlike some other categories, the law does not introduce additional conditions or special documents that must be presented when leaving. This means that the standard set of documents provided for a specific category of traveler is the limit within which the border guard operates. Any demands beyond this, including the checking of a mobile application, are not provided for within the framework of Ukrainian border control for women.
Context: requirements in EU countries
The SBCU clarification did not come out of nowhere: in certain EU states, Ukrainian women were required to provide data from the 'Reserve+' app when applying for temporary protection status. In particular, Ukrainian women in Spain noted that when registering for temporary protection, they were asked to show specifically this app. It is important that this requirement does not arise at the Ukrainian border, but already on the territory of the host state and within the framework of its national protection procedures. That is, we are talking about different legal spaces: Ukrainian border control and the temporary protection rules of a specific EU country are governed by independent norms.
Contradictory data
Here arises an apparent contradiction that should be stated openly. On the one hand, the SBCU categorically states that at the Ukrainian border the 'Reserve+' app for women is not checked and the law does not establish any restrictions on their departure. On the other hand, the real experience of Ukrainian women in Spain and other EU countries shows that when applying for temporary protection, data from 'Reserve+' was indeed requested from them. These two positions are not identical and relate to different jurisdictions and procedures: the first is the position of Ukrainian border control on exit, the second is the requirements of national authorities of EU countries within the framework of providing temporary protection. It is precisely the mixing of these two contexts in the public sphere that creates the impression of a contradiction between the official statement of the service and the personal experience of citizens.
Reaction of the MFA of Ukraine and status of measures
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reacted to the demands raised in EU countries. The department emphasized that such requests are related to new rules for obtaining temporary protection in host states. The MFA also clarified that these measures are temporary in nature. Thus, the Ukrainian side officially distinguishes between two processes: internal border control, where the checking of 'Reserve+' for women is not provided for, and external temporary protection procedures in the EU, where individual countries have temporarily introduced additional requirements for documents and applications.
The result of the SBCU clarification was a clear message to citizens: when crossing the Ukrainian border, women are not obliged to present the 'Reserve+' app, and border guards are not authorized to demand it as part of the standard document check. All possible additional requests related to this app relate to the procedures of the destination countries and are not part of Ukrainian border control.
