Polish truckers again blocking Dorohusk-Yagodin checkpoint on border with Ukraine
MOSCOW. Dec 18 (Interfax) - Polish truckers started to block the Dorohusk-Yagodin checkpoint on border with Ukraine at 4:00 p.m. Moscow time on Monday, the Ukrainian State Border Service said, citing data from the Polish border service.
"The protest organizers plan to let only one truck through per hour. However they say they will allow vehicles carrying security and humanitarian cargo, animals and perishable products," Ukrainian media reported, quoting a State Border Service statement. The protesters do not plan to impede the movement of buses either.
Some 1,100 trucks have been registered at this checkpoint over the past 24 hours, and 2,300 trucks were queueing to cross the border towards Ukraine on Monday morning.
Rafal Mekler, one of the leaders of the Polish truckers blocking the border, said earlier that by Polish farmers from the Oszukana Wies or Betrayed Countryside association would be joining the blockade of Dorohusk-Yagodin, the biggest checkpoint on the Polish-Ukrainian border.
Despite a ban on grain imports from Ukraine being in place for many months, it is being claimed the situation on the Polish market is becoming catastrophic due to the uncontrolled influx of grain from Ukraine. The 2023 harvest has not improved prospects, and general solutions to protect the domestic market are not being implemented.
The blockade of the Dorohusk-Yagodin checkpoint and two more border points - Krakovets-Korczowa and Rava Russkaya-Hrebenne on the Polish-Ukrainian border - began on November 6. The blockade extended to the Shegini-Medyka border crossing on November 22, with only checkpoints for empty vehicles and vans remained unblocked. Oszukana Wies is participating in the blockade of the Shegini-Medyka border crossing.
The protesters are demanding the abolition of "visa-free transport" for Ukraine that the European Commission introduced in 2022.
The mayor of Dorohusk put an end to the protest by Polish truckers at this checkpoint on December 11, and later refused to grant a request for a new protest, however a local Polish court overruled him on December 15.
The blockade organizers say they have permission from local authorities to continue their campaign until January 3, and at some checkpoints, until February. Polish media report that the new Dorohusk-Yagodin blockade will last until March inclusive. Ukraine hoped the border would be fully unblocked after the new government led by Donald Tusk came to power in Poland, but so far this has not happened anywhere but Dorohusk.
The protest has seriously affected Ukraine's agricultural exports. The European Commission considers the situation on the Polish-Ukrainian border to be unacceptable.