Polish farmers block five checkpoints: situation on border with Ukraine

Andriy Demchenko, spokesman for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, shared the information on the United News telethon.

According to him, the protesters are currently blocking five border crossing points. Yesterday, until 10:00 am, Polish farmers staged blockades at two routes: Yagodyn and Rava-Ruska. Subsequently, after 10:00 am, they reinstated the blockade at Shehyni and extended their protests to include Ustyluh and Uhryniv checkpoints.

"In fact, these are 5 directions where truck traffic is blocked in Poland," said Demchenko, adding that a small number of trucks are allowed to cross. In fact, 1-2-3 trucks can pass through each of the directions in an hour, both in the direction of Poland and outbound.

"It all depends on the organizers and participants and their willingness to let trucks pass through their conditional places where they block traffic. Fortunately, traffic for other categories of vehicles is not blocked. Cars and buses cross the border freely in both directions," explained the SBGS spokesman.

Queues at the Ukrainian-Polish border

As of this morning, about 1,250 trucks are queuing in all 5 directions, Demchenko said. Most of them are opposite Yagodyn and Rava-Ruska. "These are the trucks on the territory of Poland that are waiting to cross the border towards Ukraine," he emphasized.

The situation is better in the direction of the Ustyluh and Uhryniv checkpoints, where there are practically no queues. "But each checkpoint has its own peculiarities. Some permit the passage of trucks weighing more than 7.5 tons, accommodating larger vehicles. Meanwhile, in the direction of the Ustyluh and Uhryniv checkpoints, trucks weighing less than 7.5 tons carrying cargo, or empty trucks weighing more than 7.5 tons, are allowed to cross the border," said Demchenko.

According to him, the queue is growing. "We are also seeing a decrease in the number of trucks that have been able to cross the border. This is especially noticeable in the direction of the Yagodyn checkpoint. On normal days, when the traffic was not blocked, about 1,200-1,400 trucks crossed the border in both directions per day, and on some days it could be even more. For example, yesterday, 95 trucks crossed the border in this direction, 7 of which went to Poland and the rest to Ukraine. The day before, the number of border crossings was at the level of 145 trucks per day," summarized the spokesman.

• On Friday, February 9, Polish farmers began protests on the border with Ukraine and set conditions for ending the new blockade.