Almost 3,500 trucks queue up at Polish-Ukrainian border

Almost 3,500 trucks are currently queuing in front of Polish checkpoints on the border with Ukraine, which are blocked by Polish carriers.

This was reported by a representative of the Ukrainian State Border Service Andriy Demchenko, TASS reports.

"The situation [on the border between Poland and Ukraine] is actually unchanged - four directions are blocked. As of the morning today, according to the information we have from Polish border guards, there are almost 3,500 cargo vehicles in queues towards Ukraine on Polish territory," he said on air of the Rada TV channel.

According to Demchenko, at the checkpoint on the border of Slovakia with Ukraine, where local carriers this week suspended the action to block traffic, more than 500 trucks are still in line.

On November 6, Polish carriers blocked three main checkpoints on the border with Ukraine, and on November 23, a fourth one was added. Truck drivers are forced to stand in multi-kilometre queues for days. Negotiations with the protesting Polish hauliers have not yielded any results so far. They demand to cancel the privileges granted by the European Union to carriers from Ukraine, to restore the former order of compulsory licensing of Ukrainian commercial freight transport and to restore the system of permits for Ukrainian transport companies, which existed until February 24 last year.

The Slovak Road Carriers' Union earlier joined the protests of the Ukrainian trucking industry. However, on December 4, the blockade of Slovakia's only road checkpoint Vyšné Německe on the border with Ukraine was suspended.

According to Slovak media, the activists may resume protests after the EU Council at the level of transport ministers refused on December 4 to reconsider the conditions for Ukrainian carriers.