Over 2,500 trucks blocked at Ukrainian-Polish border - Kiev
MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - The total number of blocked trucks standing in lines at Polish-Ukrainian border checkpoints has reached more than 2,500 due to the protest of Polish farmers, Ukrainian media reported, citing a statement by spokesman of the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service Andrei Demchenko during a national telethon on Tuesday.
"As of this morning, according to the information we received from our Polish colleagues, there were a little more than 2,500 trucks waiting in queues in all six directions on the territory of Poland. The most of them are in front of Krakovets and Yagodin," Demchenko said.
He noted that six out of nine border checkpoints are still blocked, but on Tuesday, Polish farmers scaled up their actions with regard to trucks and ceased to let other categories of vehicles through at certain checkpoints.
Polish protesters blocked traffic for all categories of vehicles both towards Ukraine and towards Poland at the Ustilug, Ugrinov and Rava-Russkaya checkpoints, Demchenko said.
Traffic is blocked only for trucks towards the Shegini and Yagodin checkpoints in both directions, at the same time at the Krakovets checkpoint traffic is blocked for trucks towards Ukraine, while traffic for other categories of vehicles is free in both directions, Demchenko added.
Demchenko also noted that the Polish border guards failed to influence the protesters, as they are holding their protest not at the checkpoints themselves, but at a certain distance from the border, on the highways.
"This should be influenced by the police or other law enforcement agencies, which are obliged to prevent unlawful acts committed against drivers and their vehicles," Demchenko said.
Demchenko also noted that the place of registration of the truck does not affect its chances of crossing the border, as both Ukrainian and foreign truckers are in line.
At the same time, the issue of drivers staying in the border zone from the Ukrainian side is being addressed with the assistance of the e-Queue electronic system. Demchenko noted that the driver does not have to be physically at the border, as the system informs him about the time at which he can arrive at the border to enter the checkpoint.
In turn, drivers on the Polish side have become hostages to the situation and are forced to idle in a physical queue waiting to cross the border, Demchenko said.
Due to the protest of Polish farmers, the queue at checkpoints with other neighboring countries has increased, in particular at the Ukrainian-Slovak checkpoint Uzhgorod and the Ukrainian-Hungarian checkpoint Tisza.
"In recent days, we see a longer queue at the border with Slovakia and Hungary. As of this morning, 600 trucks were waiting in line to cross into Ukraine in the direction of the Uzhgorod checkpoint and the Tisza checkpoint, but traffic is intensive there and blocking does not occur," Demchenko said.