2,800 trucks are stuck on the border with Poland, and their number is increasing. On November 18, the spokesman of the State Border Service of Ukraine, Andriy Demchenko, told about this on the air of the telethon.
There are the most of them in front of the checkpoint "Krakivets" — 1,200 trucks, "Yagodin" — 1,100, "Rava-Ruska" — 500.
Rava-Ruska checkpoint, November 9, 2023.
Getty Images / «Babel'»
Poles do not block traffic for passenger transport. Buses and cars cross the border freely.
On November 16, Slovak carriers blocked the checkpoint with Ukraine for an hour to show solidarity with the Poles. Now, according to Demchenko, 460 trucks are waiting to enter Ukraine at the Uzhhorod checkpoint, before that there were 500. Truck traffic is not being impeded there, and the Slovak border guards do not yet have information about a possible blocking of traffic at the border.
Ukrainian trucks at the border with Slovakia, the queue is 18 kilometers long.
Getty Images / «Babel'»
What is happening on the border with Poland?
On November 6, several dozen Polish carriers began blocking three Polish-Ukrainian border crossings in the Polish villages of Grebenne, Dorogusk, and Korchova. The picketers are demanding the cancellation of "transport visa-free" for Ukraine and banning the registration in Poland of transport companies with foreign capital, which are pushing Polish entrepreneurs out of the market. The organizers said that they will protest until January 3. Private cars and buses promise to pass without obstruction.
After negotiations, Polish carriers refused to stop blocking the border with Ukraine and rejected the joint proposals of the European Commission, Ukraine and Poland. A key demand of the protesters is a return to the permit system. The Ukrainian side stated that this demand cannot be fulfilled, and the Directorate of the European Commission emphasized that such an issue cannot be the subject of this meeting.