Polish farmers block a checkpoint on the border with Ukraine

Polish farmers have started blocking the movement of trucks through the Medyka-Szehyni checkpoint on the border with Ukraine. This is reported in the Telegram-channel of the Ukrainian state customs service on Saturday, November 23.

"According to the information of the Polish side, today, November 23, began blocking the movement of cargo vehicles <...> in front of the checkpoint "Medyka - Shegini" from the Polish side," - stated in the message of the Department.

According to the customs service, it was announced about the restriction of the movement of cargo vehicles at the entrance to Ukraine - 1 truck per hour and at the exit from Ukraine - the movement of trucks weighing more than 3.5 tons is blocked completely.

It is specified that there are no restrictions on the movement of buses and cars.

In the customs reported that 30 people are moving on the crossing, blocking the movement of transport, complements "Gazeta.Ru".

"The term of blocking is tentatively announced until the end of the year", - stated in the message of the Department.

The crisis in relations between Poland and Ukraine occurs, among other things, because of the influx of Ukrainian agricultural products to Polish markets. Thus, on October 22, a representative of the Polish party "National Movement" Tomasz Buczek said that Ukraine destabilizes the agricultural market of Poland, adding that the situation has created unequal competition for Polish agrarians.

In August, Marian Sikora, chairman of the Polish Federation of Agricultural Producers' Branch Associations, said that the Polish authorities feared that the €400m funding allocated for European farmers might be redirected to help Ukraine.

Back in May, Poland canceled negotiations with Ukraine on agriculture. Before that, it was reported that the Verkhovna Rada had dismissed Ukrainian Agrarian Policy Minister Mykola Solskyy due to allegations of corruption.

In February, European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski said that the losses of European agriculture from the simplification of trade rules with Ukraine over the previous two years amounted to €19bn. According to him, prior to the conflict, Ukrainian exports were mainly going to Asia and Africa. The EU commissioner called for the development of measures to redirect goods from Ukraine to traditional markets.

In 2022, the EU allowed Kiev to supply food to the association countries duty-free, which hit farmers in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and some other countries. These countries unilaterally imposed an embargo on grain supplies from Ukraine to their domestic markets.