Polish Truck Drivers Block Ukrainian Drivers at Border: Riot Police Intervene

NOSPolish riot police stop angry Ukrainian truck drivers at the border.

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 12:15

Christiaan Paauwe

reporter Central and Eastern Europe

Christiaan Paauwe

reporter Central and Eastern Europe

Sirens sound at the Polish-Ukrainian border. Gray-blue vans stop along the road and riot police rush out to form a wall and stop a group of dozens of men wearing yellow vests. “Let’s go home,” one shouts. They are Ukrainian drivers who want to return to their country but have been waiting for the border in Poland for more than a week.

The cause is a little further down. Here in Dorohusk and at two other border crossings, Polish transport companies have set up blockades. For the past ten days, they have only allowed one truck per hour through – although transports with relief goods or perishable goods are excluded. The consequences are clearly visible: the line of trucks starts more than 30 kilometers before the border. And Ukrainians expect that at the current speed it may take weeks before they can return home.

Polish transport companies are demonstrating for the second time this year against what they see as unfair competition. Due to the Russian invasion in February last year, the EU decided to open ‘solidarity routes’ to simplify transport to and from Ukraine. A licensing system for Ukrainian drivers, intended to protect the European market, was suspended.

Competition

Since then, an unlimited number of trucks can cross the border. This leads to unfair competition for Polish transport companies, the activists say. Personnel costs are lower in Ukraine and Ukrainian drivers do not have to comply with the same EU rules. Poles are also angry that a digital registration system for crossing the border from the Ukrainian side works out better for Ukrainians. As a result, Ukrainian drivers no longer have to wait in line, but Polish drivers do.

At the beginning of the war, the consequences for Polish carriers were not taken into account, says Marek Okrynski. The owner of a Polish transport company has been transporting goods to and from Ukraine for 25 years. Now he and about ten fellow activists keep warm around a wood stove. Every 24 hours one protest group replaces the other. “At the beginning of the war, we thought with our hearts. We all helped Ukraine here,” he says. “But we must separate trade from war.”

The blockade shows similarities with actions by farmers in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania earlier this year. They were angry because Ukrainian grain ended up on the domestic market, which, according to agricultural companies, also caused unfair competition. Trucks carrying grain are now guided through Poland under a police escort to prevent the grain from being sold locally.

NOS

Polish truck drivers block the border at Dorohusk.

NOS

Only one truck per hour is allowed through at the border, unless they are carrying relief supplies or perishable goods.

NOS

Due to the protest, trucks are waiting more than 30 kilometers before the border.

The fact that the border is now closed again is difficult for Ukrainian drivers to accept. “Imagine: we are at war, we cannot get anything by sea and the airspace is closed,” says 28-year-old driver Stas from the city of Rivne. This is the only way to get goods into the country, he emphasizes, and this has major consequences for Ukraine.

“They are crazy,” adds another driver. “We bring goods to and from all over Europe: Germany, the Netherlands, France. They have no idea what they are doing with this protest. I don’t know why, whether they have been paid by Putin or something.” Other drivers mainly complain about the lack of facilities and support from Poland while they are stationary. There are now mobile toilets every few kilometers, but the first part of the line already starts in the forest outside the city of Chelm, where nothing has been arranged for the truckers.

According to Polish authorities, the blockades at the border fall under the right to demonstrate. The carriers plan to continue with it in the coming weeks. Here in Dorohusk until the beginning of December, at the two other locations for a month longer. As with the grain protest, truckers’ actions threaten to spread to other countries. In Slovakia, carriers held a first short action yesterday due to the same objections.

‘Terror’

Several conversations between protest leaders and Ukrainian representatives led nowhere. According to Polish media, the European Commission has called on Poland to put an end to the actions. Kyiv warns that both Ukraine and the EU will be affected economically by the blockades.

A small group of Ukrainians are allowed through by the police. They can talk to their Polish colleagues further away and ask for an explanation. “Ten people standing here ensure that we cannot go home, this is terror,” one of the drivers told the Polish activists. Marek Okrynski speaks to them. “Let’s not start a second war between Poland and Ukraine,” he says. “No one needs that, do they?”

2023-11-17 11:15:47
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