According to information received by Ukrainian border guards on the evening of December 14, representatives of Slovak carriers unblocked truck traffic entering Slovakia at the Vysne Nemecke checkpoint for an indefinite period of time, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reported on its Telegram channel.
“Since the end of the blockade, as of 09:00 on December 15, almost 60 trucks have been cleared to leave Ukraine through the Uzhhorod checkpoint, and another 1065 are in the electronic queue to leave Ukraine,” the statement said.
As reported, on December 11, Polish carriers ended the blockade in front of the Dorohusk-Yahodyn checkpoint.
The Union of Road Carriers of Slovakia (UNAS) blocked truck traffic through the only border checkpoint with Ukraine, Vysne Nemecke-Uzhhorod, from 15:00 on December 11.
As of Sunday morning, December 10, about 3,500 trucks are queuing to enter Ukraine at the Ukrainian-Polish border, according to the spokesman for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGS), Andriy Demchenko.
“The situation is almost unchanged. Four directions are blocked. “Rava-Ruska – Khrebenne, Yahodyn – Dorohusk, Krakovets – Korchova, Shehyny – Medyka. As of this morning, according to the information we have from the Polish border guards, almost 3,500 trucks are in line to cross into Ukraine,” Demchenko said on the air of the national telethon on Sunday.
The SBGS spokesman noted that the largest number of trucks is opposite the Shehyni checkpoint – 1,200, and the Yahodyn checkpoint – almost 900.
“Of course, during the day there is a certain movement of trucks both entering Ukraine and leaving Ukraine in the direction of Poland, but there is no dynamics and intensity that was before November 6,” added Demchenko.
The Union of Slovak Carriers plans to block the movement of freight transport in front of the Vysne Nemecke checkpoint adjacent to the Ukrainian checkpoint Uzhhorod from 16:00 on December 1, 2023, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reports.
“Four trucks per hour will be allowed to leave Slovakia. At the same time, the transportation of humanitarian and military aid, live animals, fuel and refrigerated cargo will not be blocked,” the message on the Telegram channel reads.
Drivers are asked to take into account possible traffic complications.
The Union of Dairy Enterprises of Ukraine (UDEP) and the Polish Dairy Chamber call on the governments of both countries to create conditions that would make it impossible to block the Ukrainian-Polish border.
“At a time when Ukraine is forming an outpost on the eastern borders of the European Union to expand the principles of democracy and free market, including with the active support of Poland, the governments of both countries should take the initiative and responsibility for creating conditions that would make such destructive situations impossible. If such situations do arise, the governments should promptly take the necessary measures to resolve them,” the dairy associations said in a statement published on the UMCU website on Wednesday.
According to the dairy associations, the blocking of transport at the border by some Polish organizations jeopardizes full-fledged trade relations between Ukraine and Poland.
The UMCU and the Polish Dairy Chamber emphasized the inadmissibility of extreme measures: if they become systemic, they pose a threat to the development of Ukrainian and Polish companies.
The appeal cites data from the State Customs Service of Ukraine, according to which in January-October 2023, Poland exported almost EUR 5.5 billion worth of goods to Ukraine, including EUR 160 million worth of dairy products.
Maintaining full-fledged trade relations between Ukraine and Poland is equally important for entrepreneurs in both countries, the dairy associations of Ukraine and Poland summarized.
According to Andriy Demchenko, a spokesman for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, as of the morning of November 22, there were about 2,700 trucks on the Ukrainian-Polish border at three checkpoints – Yagodyn-Dorogusk, Krakovets-Korchova, and Rava-Ruska-Krebenne.
Polish carriers have postponed the start date of the blockade of freight traffic at three checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Polish border from November 3 to November 6, Ihor Overko, head of the International Transport Association of Ukraine, said on Facebook on Thursday, citing one of the protest organizers.
“Polish carriers have announced that they are postponing the start of the blockade of freight traffic heading towards the three checkpoints from November 3 to November 6. This was announced by the co-chairman of the blockade, the organizer of the protest at the Krakowiec-Korczowa checkpoint, Tomasz Borkowski,” the statement reads.
The blockade will begin at 13:00 Kyiv time on November 6. The organizers of the protest have received official permission from local authorities to hold it until January 3, 2024, the statement said.
The blockade of freight transport will be organized in the direction of three checkpoints: “Yagodyn-Dorogousk, Krakovets-Korchova, and Rava-Ruska-Hrebenne.
One of the main demands of the protest organizers is to return to the practice of issuing permits for Ukrainian freight carriers and reduce their number to the pre-war level, when up to 200,000 permits were issued per year. In addition, the carriers want empty Polish trucks returning from Ukraine to Poland to be able to cross the border without an e-queue and without waiting 10-12 days. The carriers also demand to tighten the rules of transportation under the ECMT (certificate of the European Conference of Ministers of Transport).
Earlier it was reported that Polish carriers with the participation of 200 people and in the presence of 100 tractors planned to hold a one-day strike at the largest Polish border checkpoint “Yagodyn-Dorogousk” on November 3.
The Ministry of Reconstruction confirmed that it had received reports of a blockade of checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Polish border, and then initiated a meeting with officials from Poland and the European Commission (EC) to ensure stable border operations.
In a commentary to Interfax-Ukraine, Deputy Minister Serhiy Derkach said that most of the demands of Polish carriers threatening to block the border are unrealizable.
Passenger flow through western border of Ukraine in April 2023, thousand
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
