‘We aren’t going anywhere’: Truckers vent frustration at Poland-Ukraine border

By Jo Harper

WARSAW (AA) - Polish truck drivers blocking border crossings with Ukraine are wary of ending their protests after Poland’s new Deputy Agriculture Minister Michal Kolodziejczak signaled the new government’s support for their demands but called for the blockades to be ended.

“We aren’t going anywhere until we see changes on the ground,” a Polish truck driver protesting at Medyka, a key border crossing between Ukraine and Poland, told Anadolu.

“We have been given promises before, but they are not always fulfilled,” he said.

The driver, who hails from the city of Lublin, said he would stay “until the government acts.”

Kolodziejczak visited the border on Dec. 19, saying: “Imports of agri-food products from Ukraine are one of the greatest threats to our agriculture. Today I was in Medyka at the farmers' protest. The demands raised here are valid, and we are working to ensure that they are met as quickly as possible. Farmers' place is not on the road,” he said.

Farmers have been protesting in front of the border in Medyka since Nov. 23, organized by the local pressure group Oszukana Wies (Deceived Village).

They are blocking trucks from reaching the border crossing except for humanitarian, military, perishable food, and hazardous cargo.

- Grain prices dropping over Ukraine imports

Their demands include subsidies for corn cultivation after grain prices dropped dramatically due to grain imports from Ukraine, the restoration of liquidity loans and the maintenance of agricultural taxes at the current level.

Kolodziejczak said: “Advanced actions are currently underway regarding all the agricultural demands.”

He said the regulation on the continuation of liquidity loans has already been signed and that the minister of agriculture had signed documents addressed to the European Union which would allow 1 billion zlotys ($253 million) in support for corn producers. He also informed that changes to the agricultural tax act are being prepared.

Roman Kondrow, the leader of Oszukana Wies, said on Sunday that assurances alone are not enough to stop the protest.

Demonstrators will protest even during the Christmas holidays if necessary, he added.

The National Tax Administration reported on Sunday that in Medyka, trucks have to wait 91 hours for customs clearance to begin. Drivers of passenger cars and buses wait one hour for check-in.

In turn, before the crossing in Kroscienko, where customs clearance for vehicles with a total permissible weight not exceeding 7.5 tons is allowed, trucks must wait 20 hours for customs clearance.

According to the services, approximately 570 trucks are waiting in line for Medyka.

Andriy Sadovyi, the mayor of Lviv, the administrative center of the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine, wrote on X last week: "Your entire gigantic contribution to Ukraine's victory in this war is being nullified by a group of marginalists who are blocking deliveries of humanitarian goods to a country that has been defending its independence and the security of Europe for a second year.”

Kondrow replied on X that Ukrainians are "biting the hand we extended to them."

The European Business Association in Ukraine said last week that accumulated losses from the blockade had reached over 305 million hryvnias ($8.2 million), hitting both exporters and importers.

European transport commissioner Adina Valean said on Nov. 29 that Ukraine and the European Union cannot be "taken hostage" by the Polish truckers blockading the border. ​​​​​​​