Nov. 23, 2024, 1:46 p.m.
(Photo: STATE BORDER GUARD SERVICE OF UKRAINE)
On November 23, Polish farmers resumed the blockade of the Medyka-Shehyni checkpoint. A traffic jam has already formed at the border.
This was reported by the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.
According to the border guards, the protest began around 10:00 am. The farmers announced that no vehicles heavier than 3.5 tons would be allowed to enter Poland. Only one truck per hour would be allowed to leave the country. At the same time, cars and buses can cross the border without restrictions.
The Border Guard Service notes that there are currently no traffic jams leaving Ukraine. However, about 150 trucks are waiting to enter Ukraine from Poland. The protesters are located at a distance of about one kilometer from the Medyka checkpoint on the Polish side.
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RMF24 radio reported that about 30 farmers are taking part in the protests, moving continuously through the pedestrian crossing with flags. They put forward two main demands. The first is to leave the level of the agricultural tax in 2024 at the level of 2023. The second is to prevent the signing of a free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur countries, as this could harm the Polish agricultural sector.
The farmers warned that if there are no changes, the protest will continue uninterrupted until the end of the year.
Svitlana Burda, a representative of the Lviv Border Guard Detachment, said that the protest will last 48 hours with possible extensions. The protesters will let buses and cars pass in both directions. The traffic restrictions will apply to trucks. Polish farmers plan to let one truck per hour to enter Ukraine. Trucks weighing more than 3.5 tons will be blocked from leaving Ukraine.
Earlier, Polish protesters blocked five checkpoints on the border with Ukraine. More than a thousand trucks were stuck in queues in Poland heading to Ukraine. The blockade was caused by the European Commission's decision of January 31 to extend the abolition of duties on Ukrainian goods for another year. The blockers demanded the reinstatement of mandatory permits for Ukrainian carriers to travel to the EU and the abolition of electronic queues to leave Ukraine. One of the arguments of the blockers is that Ukrainians are taking jobs away from Polish carriers. Because they drive around Europe without a license.
To avoid crossing the Polish border, Ukraine developed a new export route across the Danube. The new route was designed to increase Ukrainian exports to the level they had been at the beginning of the war. And although many exporters preferred the Black Sea because of its low cost, the volumes through the Danube for Ukraine still amounted to 1.2-1.8 million tons per month.
Ірина Глухова