Polish truckers blockade Ukrainian border in protest over loss of business
Polish truckers blockade Ukrainian border in protest over loss of business
An estimated 3,000 trucks — mostly of Ukrainian registry — are currently stuck at Poland’s border with Ukraine as Polish truckers blockade three major border crossings.
The protest is over Ukrainian truck companies’ access to the European Union, and it comes two months after a serious fallout between Kyiv and Warsaw over grain imports. And Ukraine’s President Zelensky recently acknowledged that his country’s allies were tiring of the war.
In Dorohusk, Poland, near the border of Ukraine, Stanislav Timoshchuk climbs up into the cab of his truck to show where he’s been living for over a week now — stuck on the road home to Ukraine. He’s one of hundreds of Ukrainian truck drivers trapped by a dispute with Polish truckers who are blockading the border.
It is another sign of tension with a key ally that worries Kyiv. In fact, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Poland called this Polish protest “a stab in the back.”
Timoshchuk radioes up the line of trucks for news and is told they’re moving nowhere; the line now stretches for 20 kilometers. He said that his supplies, cash and patience are all running out.
“People’s nerves in this queue are really fraying. We can’t take much more,” Timoshchuk said. “Is this how Poland helps us? What can I say? Thank you, Polish people, for this help.”
All the way up the line at the roadblock, Polish truckers are just as frustrated and just as forthright.
Pawel Ozygala said that ever since Ukrainian truckers were allowed into the EU with no limits, Polish firms have been losing out. The measure was meant to help Ukraine during the war, but Ozygala said his business has lost tens of thousands of euros.
“We constantly support Ukraine, but we need support our own families too. It’s a matter of ‘to be or not to be’ for our companies now,” he said.
The protesters are letting food through; military aid to Ukraine is waved through as well. Otherwise, they’ve choked the traffic flow to a couple of trucks an hour in each direction. It is a dramatically different place from when hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians crossed here as refugees, welcomed by Poland, which saw Russia’s invasion as a direct threat to them too.
Just across the fields from the truck protest, the village shopkeeper talked about how people had taken Ukrainians into their homes then, collecting clothes and food for them. And she thinks that solidarity is still strong.
But other villagers are lukewarm now, at best, about their labor. One person said she’d had enough of helping Ukrainians. Another agreed, blaming tough times in Poland.
That’s hard to hear for men from a country at war that can’t afford to get tired of defending itself. Right now, Ukrainian drivers largely say they just want to get home. The talks on ending this protest though, are going nowhere — just like their long line of trucks.
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
