Latvia ready to join negotiations on unblocking border between Ukraine, Poland

Riga has urged Warsaw to resolve the situation with the blockades on the Polish-Ukrainian border and is offering its assistance in this regard.

Latvian Foreign Minister Krišjānis Kariņš had a conversation with Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk, Polish Minister for EU Affairs, on 25 November, urging him to seek a way out of the ongoing situation on the Polish-Ukrainian border due to the protest blockade by Polish hauliers, Ukrainska Pravda reports, citing the Latvian Foreign Ministry.

"The foreign minister said Latvia was ready to join in and help find a way out of the situation," the communiqué stated.

The ministers also discussed the upcoming European Council summit, which is expected to consider the issue of opening EU accession talks with Ukraine.

Polish hauliers, who have been blocking three checkpoints on the Polish-Ukrainian border for road freight since 6 November, commenced a blockade of another checkpoint, Medyka-Shehyni, on 23 November. The blockade may last until 3 January.

On 22 November, the Ukrainian parliament approached the new Polish Sejm (lower chamber of the Polish parliament) and Senate with a proposal to unblock the border for hauliers.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv had an understanding of how to act and that "it takes a little time" to make progress.