Polish farmers expand protests on border with Ukraine

MOSCOW. Feb 12 (Interfax) - Polish farmers started protests near the Zosin and Dolgobychuv checkpoints on the Polish-Ukrainian border on Monday, while truck traffic is again blocked at the Medyka-Shegini border checkpoint, Ukrainian media reported, citing the Ukrainian State Border Service.

"Polish farmers started protests near the Zosin checkpoint at 10:10 a.m. today. The protesters intend to let through three trucks per hour. Cars, buses, and vehicles carrying humanitarian aid, as well as vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes in both directions will be cleared in the usual mode," the State Border Service said on its Telegram channel.

The protesters intend to pass two trucks per hour in both directions across the Dolgobychuv checkpoint.

It is planned to pass one truck per hour across the Medyka-Shegini border checkpoint, whose operation has been blocked on February 9, but it was unblocked the following day. Cars and buses will be allowed through as usual.

As previously reported, protests are also being staged at the Hrebenne-Rava Russkaya and Dorohusk-Yagodin checkpoints. Polish farmers also intended to prevent the unloading of agricultural products from Ukraine at the Hrubieszow - Vladimir-Volynsky railway checkpoint (Izov railway station) starting from February 9.

European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski and Polish Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Siekierski expressed solidarity with the protesters, who are outraged with the influx of cheap Ukrainian food products on the Polish market.

The protests, which involve blocking the border checkpoints for truck traffic, have been taking place on the Ukrainian-Polish border since November 2023. Truckers and farmers are taking part in them. The Polish Infrastructure Ministry signed an agreement with the truckers (who protested the abolition of permits for Ukrainian truckers to work in the EU) about a month ago that they would stop blocking the border until March 1.