Over 1,000 trucks waiting in queues at Polish-Ukrainian border checkpoints due to farmer protests

MOSCOW. Feb 13 (Interfax) - Polish farmers have blocked five checkpoints on the border with Ukraine on the morning on February 13, and about 1,250 trucks are waiting in queues, Ukrainian media reports, citing official representative of the State Border Service of Ukraine Andrey Demchenko.

"As of now, five checkpoints are blocked," he said. A video of his statements was published on YouTube.

Demchenko said that, on Monday, before 10:00 local time, Polish farmers had blocked two border checkpoints: Yagodin and Rava-Russkaya. Then, after 10:00, they resumed blocking the Sheginie checkpoint and expanded to the Ustilug and Ugrinov checkpoints.

"In fact, these are five directions where traffic for cargo vehicles is blocked on the territory of Poland," Demchenko said. "In all these directions, as of this morning, there are approximately 1,250 trucks in queues, most of them on the opposite sides of Yagodin and Rava-Russkaya.

A small number of trucks are being allowed through.

"In fact, they let 1-2-3 cars through per hour in any direction, both towards Poland and out. It all depends on the organizers and participants and their desire to let vehicles pass through their designated places where they are blocking traffic. Fortunately, traffic for other categories of transport is not being blocked. Passenger cars and buses are crossing the border freely in both directions," a border service representative said.

Polish farmers announced the start of a protest on February 9, which is expected to last 30 days. During this period, strikers will block border crossings on the Ukrainian-Polish border. They cite the European Commission's recent proposal to extend duty-free trade with Ukraine through 2025 as the reason for the protest.

European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski and Polish Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Sekierski recently expressed solidarity with protesting farmers unhappy with the influx of cheap Ukrainian food onto the Polish market.