We are doing everything we can to increase border throughput - Ukraine's ambassador to Poland

This was stated by the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Ukraine to Poland, Vasyl Zvarych, in an interview with Espreso. 

"The Russians have bombed a lot of logistics routes. Due to these circumstances, the load on automobile checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Polish border has increased. Most of the freight flows through them. Huge queues are forming, especially from trucks. The dissatisfaction of carriers is growing. I would like to especially emphasize that this dissatisfaction should be directed, first of all, to the one who is the root cause. It is Putin and the Russian Federation, which has put us all in very difficult conditions with its war", he said.

According to Zvarych, there is a lot of political will on the part of the Polish and Ukrainian governments to decongest these checkpoints.

"Very quick, operational decisions are taken regarding liberalization and control functions. Mainly when it comes to the transportation of grain crops or fuel. We are trying to do everything possible to increase the capacity of the checkpoints. Some of them are now exclusively intended for the maintenance of freight transport. The Krakovets-Korczowa checkpoint is under construction, and the lanes for cars and trucks have been demarcated", the ambassador noted.

He added that the possibility of creating new checkpoints is being discussed.

"The Ukrainian government has created an Open Border working group. The task is not only the construction of checkpoints, but also detours. The entire border infrastructure will be developed. This is all happening in the conditions of war, limited expenses, but the work is going quite efficiently. The problem is known, both governments are working on it", the ambassador said.

Zvarych added that one of the initiatives supported by both the Ukrainian government and the president is the creation of joint control at checkpoints.

"This would save time and we would move to a new level of border control. We are currently working on an intergovernmental agreement on this with the Polish side and we hope that in the near future we will reach an agreement on the text and this agreement will be signed. There are not enough checkpoints for such a length of the border. Now it has become obvious that efforts should be directed to their development. There should be more of them", he said.

The ambassador expressed hope that the border between the states will function as in the countries of the Schengen zone.

"So that the EU border moved further to the east, and we could move freely on the border between Poland and Ukraine, the same as between Poland and Germany now", the ambassador concluded.