The U.S. State Department has asked Americans not to travel to Crimea and the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine. Those who currently dwell there are recommended by experts to urgently return home, or, in the very least, to leave the territories. The State Department has extended the warning against travel to these regions until July 2016.

The main threat to U.S. citizens comes from the forces of the militia. They, according to diplomats, can detain and even kidnap Americans in Crimea and in Donbass. “In addition, the government of Ukraine has stated that foreigners, including U.S. citizens who enter Ukraine from Russia through the territory of the separatist control will not be allowed to pass through checkpoints in government-controlled territory,” notes the state Department.

As a reminder, in April of last year the Ukrainian authorities waged war against the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk national republics. According to the United Nations, victims of the armed conflict reached more than 9 thousand people. To resolve the crisis in Donbass, a variety of ways are being tried, including meetings of the contact group in Minsk, which after a year already regulate three documents outlining specific steps to de-escalate the conflict.