Polish protesters threaten complete blockade of Ukrainian border, rejecting even humanitarian aid passage

Since Monday, Polish demonstrators have initiated a continuous protest at the "Medyka-Shehyni" border crossing, which is expected to persist until January 3. They are even considering completely blocking the border, including to deliver humanitarian assistance.

Roman Kondruv, a representative of the protestors, said this, according to Ukrinform.

He said the protest at this checkpoint has been happening since Thursday, November 23, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time. Starting from Monday, it will be held 24/7 and will continue until January 3.

A representative of the protesters noted that they would let two trucks through every hour. At the same time, he did not rule out a complete blockade of the border. Kondruv noted that voices are heard from the Ukrainian side of the border, indicating that Polish protesters are blocking the passage of humanitarian aid to Ukraine. He called it untrue but did not rule out that the protesters would not let any trucks through if such accusations continued.

According to the Polish police, about 1,400 trucks were queuing to cross the border in front of the Medyka-Shehyny checkpoint on Monday, and about 530 cars were in front of the Korchova-Krakovec checkpoint.

For reference:

As reported by Rubryka, Polish carriers started an indefinite protest on November 6.

On November 22, the Verkhovna Rada [Ukraine's parliament – ed.] appealed to the new Sejm and Senate of Poland with a proposal to unblock the border for carriers.

In turn, the Ukrainian side created a headquarters to help drivers blocked at the border. A coordinator is in constant contact with each of the three points.

In Poland, a second Ukrainian driver has died near the Korchova-Krakovec checkpoint, where Polish carriers block the border. Kyiv also started collecting data for the evacuation of Ukrainian drivers since it was impossible to agree on it during the negotiations with the local and central authorities of Poland and the EU.

In addition, Polish farmers who joined the blockade of transporters on the border with Ukraine, even though they initially planned to block the border crossing until Saturday, want to continue their protest 24 hours a day until January 3.

In addition, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, believes that the situation that arose on the border of Poland and Ukraine happened "because of some political steps of our neighbors." The Poles should be given some time, and the bilateral relations will improve.