Romanian farmers unblock all checkpoints on border with Ukraine - Ukraine State Border Service

MOSCOW. Jan 22 (Interfax) - Truck passage via two checkpoints on the Romania-Ukraine border, Halmeu-Dyakovo and Siret-Porubnoye, which were blocked last week, has been resumed, Ukrainian media reported, citing a post from the State Border Service of Ukraine on its Telegram channel.

Both checkpoints, where farmers had been blocking the passage of trucks, resumed operations in full on January 20. Border crossings are now permitted as usual.

Last week, protesting farmers blocked passage for trucks at three checkpoints: Siret-Porubnoye, Halmeu-Dyakovo and Vikovu de Sus - Krasnoilsk. The blockade of the latter was lifted on January 19.

The Romanian Ministry of Agriculture announced that a compromise had been reached with the main agricultural producer organizations holding protests.

The route through Romania is quite a primary one for the export of Ukrainian agricultural products to foreign markets. The Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine said that in the first ten days of January, almost half of the cargo transported by truck was exported via Romania.

The agricultural sectors in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria have been under attack since 2022 due to cheap food being shipped duty-free to the EU from Ukraine, and which ends up in the markets of these countries, driving down prices for local products. This causes dissatisfaction among local farmers.