Polish farmers resume blocking two more border crossing points
18 April 2024 12:19
Polish protesting farmers resumed blocking two checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Polish border: “Korchova-Krakivets and Medyka-Shehyni. This was announced by the spokesman for the State Border Guard Service, Andriy Demchenko, Komersant ukrainskyi 
reports.
The blocking began today after nine in the morning. At the Krakivets checkpoint, truck traffic towards Ukraine is blocked, and at Medyka-Shehynia – in both directions.
Currently, more than 1,500 trucks are queuing to enter Ukraine at these crossing points.
The farmers plan to block traffic at Krakivets until 9 a.m. on 20 April, and at Medyka-Shehyni until 9 a.m. on 19 April.
Earlier, the farmers blocked the crossings at Yagodyn and Rava-Ruska, where about 600 trucks are still waiting in line to cross, the spokesman said.
Yesterday, Polish farmers lifted the border blockade on one of the routes.
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.
