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Polish truckers have blocked three key border crossings with Ukraine to protest about competition from Ukrainian drivers, in a dispute that complicates Kyiv’s war effort against Russia and its vital relations with the EU.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Poland, Vasyl Zvarych, described the protests as “a painful stab in Ukraine’s back” on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Poland has been the main gateway into the EU for refugees fleeing Ukraine and the key route into Ukraine for military and humanitarian aid since the Russian invasion last year. Ukraine relies heavily on land crossings for trade, with air traffic halted by the war and shipping affected by Russian bombing of Ukrainian ports.
The protests, which started on Monday, are blocking three border crossings to all freight except military cargo, in the latest Polish trade dispute with Ukraine. In September, Poland maintained unilateral restrictions on imports of Ukrainian grain to protect its domestic farmers, in violation of the EU’s common trade policy.
On this occasion, however, the drivers are not backed by the Polish government, which has urged them to stop obstructing the borders. But the drivers want the EU to restore transport quotas that were in force before the Russian invasion and that limited the number of Ukrainian trucks that could drive into Poland and the rest of the EU.
The protesters, who are using trucks and tractors to block border crossings, also accuse their Ukrainian counterparts of illegally loading goods in Poland and elsewhere before returning to Ukraine.
These disputes over trucking and grain show the difficulties Ukraine will face to secure support for its EU membership application from Poland and others. The European Commission recommended this week that member states open talks with Ukraine on membership, although it placed caveats on when the discussions should formally begin.
To circumvent the blockades, Serhiy Derkach, Ukraine’s deputy minister for infrastructure, told public broadcaster Suspilne that freight carriers should re-register at some of the other dozen entry and exit points along the Polish border.
Derkhach called the protests unacceptable in the midst of war, but separately said on Facebook that Ukraine was “open to constructive dialogue” with Poland to end the dispute.
The border protests came ahead of an anticipated change of government in Warsaw, after three opposition parties led by former premier Donald Tusk won a parliamentary majority last month.
Tusk — who is now not expected to take office before next month after his comeback was delayed on Monday by president Andrzej Duda — has not committed to removing the ban on Ukrainian cereals.
That reluctance reflected pressure from within his coalition from the conservative PSL party and its electoral base of farmers. A politician involved in the coalition talks told the Financial Times that the next government would “continue to protect Polish farmers”.
One of the Polish protesters, Artur Izdebski, said that Ukrainian lorry drivers were “taking away” the work of Polish drivers, using their cheaper operating costs without having to comply with EU transport regulations.
“We constantly receive new burdens from the EU to which we have to adapt,” he added, while Ukrainian carriers can operate on their “own terms”.
The Polish protests this week have stopped transport across border crossings that account for a quarter of Ukraine’s exports of grain and oilseeds by road, and could divert trade from land to sea, said Kyiv-based investment bank Dragon Capital in a note.
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