Hundreds of Hasidic pilgrims returned to Belarus on Friday after being stuck for days on the Novaya Guta checkpoint on the border with Ukraine.

The pilgrims had sought to cross the border and travel to the Ukrainian city of Uman to the tomb of Rabbi Nachman to celebrate the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah. Ukraine’s state border is closed to foreigners from August 28 to September 28 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Minsk has accused Kiev of shutting its borders and argued that there should be a “green corridor” for the pilgrims to travel to Uman and then return back to Belarus.

Ukraine on its part has asked for Belarus not to “create additional tension on the border” and “not to spread false, encouraging statements for pilgrims, which may create a feeling that the Ukrainian border may still be open to foreigners.”

The city of #Uman is a major pilgrimage site for #Hasidic Judaism since it hosts the burial site of the Nachman of #Breslov, an important figure in the Hasidic revivalist movement.