Polish farmers block three checkpoints on the border
26 March 2024 10:14
Polish farmers continue to protest on the Ukrainian-Polish border. On Tuesday, 26 March, they blocked three checkpoints. The spokesman for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, Colonel Andriy Demchenko, said this in a comment to Ukrainska Pravda, Komersant Ukrainsky 
reports
“As of 26 March, the blocking is carried out in the direction of the Yahodyn, Rava-Ruska and Uhryniv checkpoints,
– the spokesman said.
The protesters have completely blocked the movement of trucks on the routes through Yahodyn and Rava-Ruska towards Poland. Recently, there has been a complete halt in border crossings for trucks leaving Ukraine.
Also, only a limited number of trucks travelling from Poland are allowed to cross the Yagodyn checkpoint. For example, only 60 trucks were allowed through over the last day, which is a significantly lower figure compared to the previous day, when 90 trucks were allowed through. It is noted that this is the main route for transporting goods by road across the border.
As for the Uhryniv checkpoint, according to the Polish side, the protesters decided to let Ukrainian trucks through only three times every four hours, while trucks travelling to Poland are allowed through only one per day.
As of Tuesday, the queues waiting in Poland on these three routes totalled about 300 trucks, with the largest number of trucks forming in front of the Yagodyn checkpoint – about 200 trucks.
Border blockade and trade wars
on 9 February 2024, Polish farmers launched a nationwide strike and a blockade of the border with Ukraine, which is scheduled to last until the end of April. The initiator was the independent farmers’ trade union Solidarity. The main demand of the protesters is to cancel the preferential trade regime with Ukraine and to return the permit system for importing goods into Poland. According to the Polish farmers, cheap and low-quality Ukrainian products have flooded Polish and European markets and are driving Polish producers out of them.
As part of the protest, Polish farmers block truck traffic, even transit traffic, at checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Polish border, and sometimes even the movement of freight trains across the border. On several occasions, protesters have poured Ukrainian grain directly onto the ground. The Polish government has hardly reacted to these actions, has not tried to unblock the routes and generally supports the protesters’ position. Poland has imposed an embargo on Ukrainian grain and threatens to impose an embargo on all Ukrainian agricultural products.
