On 18 February, Polish farmers completely blocked the movement of trucks in both directions at the international checkpoint Dorohusk-Jahodyn and disrupted railway communication with Ukraine, Ukrainian media reported.
Since 9:00 Kyiv time, Polish farmers have been completely blocking the movement of lorries in both directions at the Dorohusk-Jahodyn international checkpoint. The farmers are holding a large-scale protest on the access roads to the village of Dorohusk.
Despite the protesters’ promises to let perishable, dangerous or humanitarian goods through, not a single heavy vehicle has crossed the border since then. The State Customs Service of Ukraine noted that shuttle buses passed through normally without queues.
As of 16 February, Polish farmers blocked six checkpoints on the border with Ukraine.
Polish hauliers and then farmers started blocking road checkpoints on the border with Ukraine in early November last year. They demanded that commercial permits be introduced for Ukrainian hauliers and that their number be limited. This caused huge queues of lorries to accumulate at the border. The border blockade caused disruptions in the delivery of some types of goods to Ukraine.
According to the Polish Peasant Party, 2.5m tonnes of grain from local producers are lying in warehouses in Poland, which cannot be sold due to the growing export of Ukrainian grain to European countries.
Meanwhile, mass protests by farmers in the EU continue. On Monday, around 500 pieces of agricultural machinery are heading to Prague to take part in farmers’ protests against the EU’s green policy and high energy prices.
