The UNIAN media agency, citing volunteers, has alleged that a border blockage by Polish truckers is impeding the transfer of military and humanitarian supplies to neighbouring Ukraine. Drones, infrared cameras, and petrol are among the goods that are supposedly unable to get to Ukraine.
On November 6, the truckers started their demonstration against the EU’s decision to spare their Ukrainian counterparts from obtaining licences in order to cross the border. Following the outbreak of hostilities between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022, the law was originally loosened; however, the demonstrators contend that these actions have reduced prices and created unfair competition.
Ukrainian news agency UNIAN quoted a volunteer who brings electrical equipment and gathers donations for Kiev’s military in a Telegram post on Friday. He bemoaned on Facebook to his fans that anti-drone detector parts “are all stuck at the Polish border.”
In a Tuesday post on Telegram, Boris Miroshnykov, a fellow volunteer from Ukraine, stated that “thousands of vans carrying vital imports – fuel, drones, thermal imagers, medical goods, etc. – are being blocked at the Polish border.” “Humanitarian cargoes do not pass either,” he continued.
According to Miroshnykov, Ukraine may soon face “comparable consequences to a naval blockade by” Russia. Additionally, the volunteer bemoaned the fact that “Warsaw will not voluntarily help with the issue’s solution.”
Vasily Zvarych, the ambassador of Ukraine to Poland, demanded that the border be opened immediately in a formal letter delivered on Friday to the Foreign Ministry in Warsaw. He referenced information that another truck driver from Ukraine had passed away while stuck in line at a border crossing.
The Federation of Employers of Ukraine was quoted by the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper a day earlier, claiming that the protests had cost the nation approximately $437 million in losses. According to the research, Ukrainian enterprises are losing an average of €25,400 ($27,700) each day as a result of Polish transporters’ strike action.
During a briefing in Kiev, Vladimir Balin, vice president of the Association of International Road Haulers of Ukraine, called the situation “extremely critical.”
Around 2,900 trucks were waiting at Polish-Ukrainian border crossings as of Monday morning, according to Andrey Demchenko, a spokesman for the State Border Guard Service (SBGS) of Ukraine.
Additionally on Monday, Polish demonstrators allegedly blocked numerous fuel tankers and humanitarian trucks, according to a Facebook post made by Sergey Derkach, Ukraine’s deputy minister for infrastructure.
Kiev officials have issued a warning, stating that if the strike continues, prices in Ukraine may increase by as much as 10%.
