Farmers Unblock Poland-Ukraine Border. But Polish Carriers Might Re-Block It – Again

Polish farmers, who, after months of protesting, lifted blockades at checkpoints with Ukraine may soon be replaced by Polish carriers.

Ukrainian logistics company representatives told Kyiv Post that the last checkpoint on the Ukrainian-Polish border was completely unblocked by Polish farmers. On Monday, April 29, all checkpoints on the border with Poland were operating freely for the first time in three months.

“This is true. Now everything is free, traffic occurs without obstacles at all points,” Volodymyr Balin, vice president of the Association of International Road Carriers, told Kyiv Post.

According to an announcement by the State Border Service of Ukraine (DPSU), truck registration and movement had resumed in both direction after 10 a.m.

However, there are rumors that in a few days, some of the checkpoints may be blocked once again, not by Polish farmers, but by Polish carriers.

“One of the [Ukrainian] carriers called and talked about it. I replied that this was the first time I had heard it. Now there are no grounds for blocking the Ukrainian movement, as all the conditions on that side are satisfied,” Balin said.

The protest started in February this year over what the Polish farmers called excessive competition from Ukrainian grain exports, which they said came about because of the EU’s easing of regulations to assist Ukraine’s economy in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

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With Russia’s full-scale invasion approaching the 1,000-day mark, 3.7 million people have already been displaced inside Ukraine and around 6.7 million have fled as refugees, according to UN figures.

Kyiv Post did identify a large spike in Poland’s import of Ukrainian goods between 2022 and 2023, though the numbers dipped back down to pre-war levels following Warsaw’s unilateral ban on imports, which started in April 2023, prior to the protest.

The protest restricted truck traffic on numerous border crossings between the two nations, which affected rail and passenger traffic at times and led to sporadic confrontations between Poles and Ukrainians, where Polish protesters forced their way into Ukrainian trucks and in some instances poured Ukrainian grain onto roads and railway tracks.

Polish carriers had previously blockaded checkpoints at the border in November.