Due to the border blockade by the Poles, Ukraine loses over 160,000 euros per day, and these are just the losses of carriers

The blockade of checkpoints on the border with Ukraine by far-right Polish carriers is costing the latter about 164 thousand euros in daily losses. However, Ukraine's losses are much higher, as they include the failure of companies to fulfill contracts and the suspension of production.

This was reported by Iryna Kosse, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting. She noted that, according to the Ministry of Infrastructure, "about 20,000 cars remain blocked at the border due to the strike that began on November 6."

"There is only one checkpoint for trucks left on the border with Poland: 'Shehyni-Medica' (the rest allow only vehicles up to 7.5 tons). Given this, exports and imports of goods will be significantly hampered," Kosse stated.

What are Ukraine's losses

According to Oleksandr Kyryliuk, director of the international road transportation department at ZAMMLER group of logistics companies, 1 day of truck downtime costs Ukrainian carriers 300-350 euros. Kosse notes that according to the system's statistics, there was a queue in October, with an average of 1,140 trucks with cargo crossing Polish border crossing points per day. At the same time:

• The three currently blocked checkpoints allowed an average of 960 vehicles per day in October.
• Another 285 vehicles per day left the other two checkpoints empty.

"Out of these 960 cars, some of them got their bearings in time, listened to the strike warning and went to other borders, some managed to get through, and some are now standing in line at the border. For example, on November 7-10, an average of 70 cars crossed the Yahodyn-Dorohusk checkpoint per day, while 270 and 74 cars crossed the Krakivets-Korchova and Rava-Ruska-Hrebenne checkpoints, respectively," the expert notes.

Thus, she summarizes, about 546 cars at these three checkpoints were unable to cross the border per day and got stuck in the queue. Multiplying this number by 300 euros, we get 164 thousand euros per day of direct damage in terms of downtime.

"However, this is only the tip of the iceberg, as Ukrainian losses are not limited to those of carriers. The total amount of losses will be much higher, covering risks for businesses, exporters, and importers. Non-fulfillment of contracts and suspension of production become a mandatory part of this scenario," stated Kosse.

Poland will suffer the same losses

It is noteworthy that Poland is also facing problems. Moreover, according to Kosse, they are proportional to Ukraine's.

"Polish businesses will also suffer losses from this blockade. And it is possible that these losses are comparable to those of Ukraine," the expert summarized.

The border with Ukraine is blocked by a far-right party

Ukrainian carriers say that only one association of Polish carriers, which had previously been actively working with Russia, supported the border blockade. Polish politician and Ukrainophobe Rafał Mekler took over the political representation.

His party has a small representation in the Sejm, representing the far right: they are against Poland's integration into the EU and in favor of limiting ties with Ukraine. However, the far right does not have much support in Poland (they have only 6 seats out of 460 in the parliament).

Rafał Mekler represents the far-right party Ruch Narodowy. He actively spreads Russian propaganda fakes about Ukraine and tells his voters about "Banderites." A few days after the outbreak of a full-scale war and the influx of Ukrainian refugees in Poland, he declared the "need to preserve the ethnic system."

Poles' demands are specific

At the same time, the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Solskyi emphasized that the blockade of the border was not organized by the Polish government but by "a specific association and a small number of carriers." Moreover, he noted, other associations of Polish carriers have a different position.

According to him, the situation is complicated by the specific demands of the strikers. "It is difficult to find any constructive things there," the minister stated.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, due to the blocking of checkpoints on the border with Ukraine by far-right Polish carriers, drivers from Poland are forced to wait several days to enter our country. For example, at the Hrebenne checkpoint, they have to wait 125 hours, which is more than 5 days.

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