Poles continue blocking the border with Ukraine: huge queues, far-right Ukrainophobes and plans for negotiations

On November 13, the Ministry of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine will hold a meeting at the border with representatives of the Polish authorities and carriers to unblock the checkpoints.

According to the press service, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Poland, representatives of voivodeships, the European Commission's Directorate for Mobility, the Embassy of Ukraine in Poland, and carriers are invited to the meeting. The Ministry of Reconstruction will be represented by Deputy Minister Serhiy Derkach.

At the same time, following the talks between Serhiy Derkach and Rafał Weber, State Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Poland, the Ukrainian side has already resolved two issues raised by their Polish colleagues. These are the functioning of lanes for empty vehicles directly at the Yahodyn-Dorohusk checkpoint and the update of the eChezha system functionality, the ability to replace the driver for empty trucks. In addition, Poles were once again proposed to run empty vehicles through the Uhryniv-Dolhobychuv checkpoint, where there is a dedicated lane.

"This option would allow empty trucks to reduce the waiting time for crossing the border. We are waiting for the appropriate decision," the ministry explained.

Over the past day, 27 vehicles were able to cross the largest cargo checkpoint Yahodyn-Dorohusk to leave Ukraine per day. The memorandum sets this number at 680 trucks. The Rava-Ruska-Hrebenne checkpoint was crossed by 40 vehicles, while the memorandum states 300 per day, and the Korczowa-Krakovets checkpoint was crossed by 227 trucks. According to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, cars, buses, vehicles with humanitarian aid, fuel and dangerous goods are allowed to cross as usual.

"Polish carriers have blocked the three largest border crossing points to Ukraine. The permission was received from the Polish authorities for 2 months: from November 3 to January 3. Briefly, they demand that we give them part (or better, all) of our work, and they do not want to wait to leave Ukraine in the general queue (it is long), they demand a separate "green corridor" for Polish cars," Anastasia Stupaenko, a representative of Ukrainian carriers, is indignant.

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

Ukrainian carriers claim that the border blockade was supported by only one association of Polish carriers, which had previously been actively working with Russia. Polish politician and Ukrainophobe Rafal Mekler took over the political representation. His party has a small representation in the Sejm, and he represents 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 enjoy much support in Poland (they have only 6 seats out of 460 in the parliament).

Rafal Mekler represents the far-right party Ruch Narodowy. He actively spreads Russian propaganda fakes about Ukraine, telling 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 order".

Mekler accuses Ukrainians of trying to stop the strike by force. "The police are asked to resolve the protest at the Dorohusk border crossing because a group of 200 Ukrainian drivers is approaching the border and they want to eliminate the protest themselves, and the police will not deal with them. Ask yourself what kind of country we live in, where a group of foreigners is in charge?" Rafal Mekler wrote on his Facebook page.

As OBOZ.UA reported, if the border with Poland remains closed until the end of 2023, Ukraine will face a slowdown in exports, problems with the delivery of machinery and equipment, and business losses. However, it is difficult to estimate specific losses from the possible blocking of checkpoints with Poland.

Only verified information is available on our Telegram OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!