According to the Polish news agency PAP and Reuters, Polish farmers lifted the blockade of the Medyka-Sehyni border crossing with Ukraine from 8:00 a.m. (local time) on December 24 until January 2 or 3, 2024. However, truck drivers said they would stay at the border during Christmas and would only allow one commercial truck to pass every three hours, instead of every three hours.
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| Trucks line up to cross the Polish-Ukrainian border at the Dorohusk-Jagodzin crossing, in Okopy, Poland, December 4, 2023. (Source: Reuters) |
Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko confirmed this information on December 23 and assessed the clearance of the above border gate as "a significant improvement in the situation on the western border".
The decision to lift the blockade was made by protesters after a meeting on the same day with Polish Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Siekierski and assurances from the government official that their demands would be met, although "it will take more time".
Minister Siekierski confirmed that funds have been provided to meet some of the protesters’ demands, while the state budget bill is pending approval. During the meeting, the two sides also signed an agreement in which the Polish government pledged to suspend sugar imports and make immediate direct payments of subsidies to farmers.
Meanwhile, the representative of the protesters, Mr. Roman Kondrow, said that after the pause, the protest may not continue if the protesters receive written assurances from Prime Minister Donald Tusk that their demands will be met.
Farmers in the village of Podkarpacka began blocking the Medyka border crossing on November 23, demanding that the government meet their demands, including corn subsidies, additional money for loan payments and maintaining agricultural taxes at current levels until 2024.
Polish transport companies have blocked traffic at major border crossings with Ukraine since November 6 and are demanding that the European Union (EU) reinstate mandatory licensing for Ukrainian transport companies operating in the EU due to price competition. Polish transport companies have also joined the country’s farmers in demanding that the government subsidize corn and not raise taxes.
“We are intensifying the protest, (allowing) only one truck every three hours,” Edyta Ozygała, one of the leaders of the truck drivers’ protest in Dorohusk, told Reuters.
Poland's deputy infrastructure minister said on December 22 after a meeting in Kiev that he hoped truck drivers' protests on the border with Ukraine could be resolved before the end of the year.
Poland has become one of Ukraine's most prominent allies since the outbreak of military conflict in its eastern neighbor in February 2022. However, ongoing protests by Polish farmers and truckers, along with disputes over Ukrainian grain, have strained relations between Warsaw and Kiev. Poland's new government, led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, hopes to end the blockade of border crossings with Ukraine by the end of the year.
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