Polish farmers may resume blockade of Uhryniv-Dolhobychuv border crossing point

Andriy Demchenko, a spokesman for the State Border Guard Service, said this in a comment to Ukrinform, according to Espreso TV channel.

As of Monday morning, April 1st, Polish farmers are blocking the Yahodyn and Rava-Ruska border crossings. Protesters are not allowing any trucks to pass through these checkpoints into Poland. There have been zero truck crossings from Ukraine recorded at these points recently.

Demchenko clarified that only an extremely small number of trucks are allowed to pass through the Yahodyn checkpoint into Poland each day. He stated that there were 70 such trucks in the past day.

"As of this morning, there are a total of 500 trucks queued on the Polish side at the two blocked border crossings, with 250 trucks on each side. Passenger cars and buses are freely crossing the border without restrictions on movement on the other side," the statement said.

Earlier, Polish farmers stopped blocking truck traffic at the Krakivets, Shehyni, and Ustyluh checkpoints. However, queues in Poland still remain at Krakivets - 950 trucks, Shehyni - 600. However, the traffic is heavy, and drivers do not have to stand in lines for weeks.

At the same time, Demchenko emphasized that on April 2, Polish farmers plan to resume blocking in the direction of the Uhryniv-Dolhobychuv checkpoint, where they temporarily suspended their actions on Thursday for the Easter holidays. Currently, traffic is free in both directions. 

What is known about the protests on the Ukrainian-Polish border

On February 7, Polish farmers sent an official notice to resume strikes on the border with Ukraine. The blocking of the Dorohusk-Yahodyn checkpoint began on February 9. The protest was approved by local authorities until March 9.

Earlier, the Polish farmers' union Solidarity announced a general strike across the country on February 9. At the time, it was noted that it would begin with the blockade of all checkpoints on the border with Ukraine, as well as the blocking of roads and highways in certain regions.

The reason for the resumption of the protests is simple: according to one of the organizers of the action, Roman Kondruv, it is because the authorities have done nothing about the problems of technical grain from Ukraine since the previous actions.

On February 12, at the Ukrainian-Polish border, near the Yaрodyn-Dorohusk checkpoint, Poles poured grain from Ukrainian trucks onto the ground.

On February 20, they promised to block all border crossings with Ukraine for a month. Ukrainian carriers held their own peaceful protest in response to the actions of Polish farmers. The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine stated that it had not received any information from the Polish side regarding the complete blocking of the border. In response to the Polish blockade, Ukrainian carriers are preparing a protest at three checkpoints.

On February 20, Polish farmers on the border with Ukraine blocked the railroad and poured grain out of a freight car. Later it turned out that it was headed to Germany.

On the evening of February 20, Polish protesters eased traffic restrictions near the border with Ukraine at two checkpoints, including Hrebenne-Rava-Ruska, and began allowing cars to pass through.

Poland's Consul General in Lviv condemned the border blockade and apologized to Ukraine, and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal later said that Ukraine and Poland were "ready for reasonable compromises" on negotiations on the situation on the border.

Polish protesters temporarily stopped blocking the Ustyluh-Zosyn checkpoint after blocking it the day before.

On February 25, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal said that Poland had already brought the first offenders on the Ukrainian-Polish border to justice, and that they faced imprisonment.

On March 4, it was reported that Ukraine had lost about UAH 8 billion in customs payments, and businesses had lost more than EUR 1.5 billion due to border blockades by Polish protesters.

In total, Ukraine lost about UAH 8 billion in customs payments, and businesses lost more than EUR 1.5 billion due to the blocking of the border by Polish protesters.