Ukraine and Poland to sue strikers blocking border crossing points

This was stated by Volodymyr Balin, Vice President of the Association of International Road Carriers AsMAP, on the air of the United News telethon, Espreso reports.

"The situation is actually critical, and today we are saying that we have legal support already in Poland. The lawyers were given two tasks. The first task is to unblock the situation as soon as possible. The second task is to find out who is to blame and who will pay for these losses. We are working on this together with our colleagues," Balin said.

He also said that these lawsuits will be filed in the near future.

"Carriers are already preparing lawsuits. And there are Polish lawyers who are ready to file these lawsuits against the strikers in Poland. Tomorrow evening we will have information about the permits (for blocking the border - ed.) - who gave permission, who requested it, on what grounds. And all this will form the basis," he said.

"The situation is actually critical, and today we are saying that we have legal support already in Poland. The lawyers were given two tasks. The first task is to unblock the situation as soon as possible. The second task is to find out who is to blame and who will pay for these losses. We are working on this together with our colleagues," Balin said.

He also said that these lawsuits will be filed in the near future.

"Carriers are already preparing lawsuits. And there are Polish lawyers who are ready to file these lawsuits against the strikers in Poland. Tomorrow evening we will have information about the permits (for blocking the border - ed.) - who gave permission, who requested it, on what grounds. And all this will form the basis," he said.

Strikes on Polish-Ukrainian border: what is known

Strikes have erupted on the Poland-Ukraine border due to increased competition following the opening of international transportation between Ukraine and EU nations. To address this, the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development initiated talks with Poland and the European Commission.

Responding to the potential border blockage, the State Border Guard Service provided comments, and Ukraine formally communicated its concerns to Poland regarding the planned strike by Polish carriers at the Ukrainian-Polish border.

On November 6, Polish carriers initiated a strike at the border. The Ministry of Infrastructure noted that no official demands had been submitted by the Polish carriers to Kyiv.

By the evening of November 7, Polish carriers had fully halted the movement of cargo vehicles at two border checkpoints with Ukraine.

Subsequently, it was revealed that trucks are facing up to a 90-hour wait to enter Ukraine.

On November 9, a meeting of government officials and carriers blocking the border with Ukraine took place in Poland, but it ended in no result. At the same time, the queues of trucks are getting longer. 

As a result, Ukraine proposed to the Polish authorities to launch lanes for empty trucks and is awaiting a response from them.

On November 15, trilateral talks with Poland and the European Commission on unblocking the crossing points took place, but they did not yield any results. Instead, the European Commission may initiate criminal proceedings against Poland if the authorities do not resolve the issue of carriers blocking checkpoints on the border with Ukraine.

At the same time, Polish carriers have promised to tighten the blockade on the border with Ukraine. In addition, customs officers began to record an increase in truck queues in the Slovak direction.