Polish farmers will resume the blockade of the border with Ukraine in the Subcarpathian and Lubelskie voivodeships from March 1. This was announced on February 26 by RMF FM radio station.
«We had a promise from the Ministry of Infrastructure [of Poland] that a draft law would be developed to strengthen control over Ukrainian carriers. <…> If nothing changes on this issue by Thursday, the number of protests [and their scale] on the border with Ukraine can only become even greater,» Maciej Wronski, chairman of the Polish Union of Transport and Logistics, is quoted as saying.
He stressed that several weeks had passed since the ministry’s promise, but no changes had occurred. At the same time, Polish carriers have been demanding the introduction of licenses for Ukrainian truckers operating in Poland since November last year. According to him, their uncontrolled activities are «squeezing Polish firms out of the market.»
The day before, the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Dmitry Kuleba, said that there was a «Russian trace» in the blocking of border crossings by Polish farmers on the border between Poland and Ukraine. According to him, it is necessary to maintain unity with allies and work every day for results.
Earlier that day, the Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine, Alexander Kubrakov, said that unknown people poured out 160 tons of Ukrainian grain, which was transported in sealed wagons to the port of Gdansk. The first such case with Ukrainian products occurred on February 11. Then in Dorokhusk, protesting farmers poured grain from Ukraine onto the road.
At the beginning of November last year, Polish carriers and farmers began blocking automobile checkpoints on the border with Ukraine. Among their demands was the introduction of commercial permits for Ukrainian carriers and a restriction on the number of Ukrainian heavy trucks entering Poland. Due to the protests at the border, huge queues of trucks appeared and disruptions began with the delivery of some goods to Ukraine.