KYIV (Reuters) – About 100 lorries have passed through a road crossing on Ukraine’s border with Poland since Polish truck drivers lifted a blockade there on Monday, Ukrainian deputy infrastructure minister Serhiy Derkach said on Tuesday.
He said Kyiv hoped blockades would also be lifted at three other border checkpoints where lorries are backed up because of protests over Ukrainian trucking firms’ access to the European Union.
Broadcaster Polsat News reported on Monday that the local Polish mayor had taken action to lift the blockade at the Yahodyn-Dorohusk crossing because he feared the blockage would hurt local jobs.
“About 100 vehicles have already passed through and we are working on opening other crossings,” Derkach told Ukrainian television.
He said that an attempt by protesters to block the road again on Monday had not stopped traffic, with the lorries using an alternative route on what is one of the largest border crossings.
Thousands of trucks carrying commercial goods have been backed up for weeks at Polish border crossings with Ukraine because of the protests, which began on Nov. 6.
The Polish truckers have been demanding restrictions on access by Ukrainian trucking firms to the EU that were removed after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, and Slovak truckers have staged similar protests.
The Polish and Slovak truckers have accused their Ukrainian counterparts of using their permit-free access to the EU to undercut prices and offer services they are not allowed to.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
