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KORCZOWA, Poland (AP) – Pickup trucks and trailers headed for Ukraine’s border are stuck in a mile-long cordon on the border with Poland. The parts that make the drones to fight the Russians are facing weeks of delays.
Ukrainian charities and companies that supply the war-torn country’s military have warned that problems continue to arise as Polish truck drivers show no sign of ending a border blockade that has lasted more than a month. Polish protesters have argued that their lives are at risk after the European Union relaxed some transport rules and Ukrainian truckers undermined their business.
Although the drones will reach the front line, it is delayed by two to three weeks, said Oleksandr Zadorozhnyi, executive director of the KOLO base, which supports the Ukrainian army in important technologies, including drones and telecommunications.
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“This means that the Russian army will have the power to kill Ukrainian soldiers and terrorize civilians for several long weeks,” he said.
Motorists in Poland have blocked roads leading to border crossings since November 6, creating queues of up to 30 kilometers (19 miles) and up to three weeks in cold weather. The protesters say they will not stop the transport of military or humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
“It’s something that bothers me, it’s even hard to believe because everyone knows – those who order, those who expedite and those who do transport – that the aid for the military is pass without waiting,” said Waldemar Jaszczur, a protest director.
Meanwhile, Polish truckers say their Ukrainian counterparts are offering lower prices to ship everything from fish to luxury goods across Europe after receiving a temporary suspension in Transport laws of 27 countries after Russian attacks in 2022.
Although Poland and other neighboring countries are some of Ukraine’s biggest supporters of the war, the anger that has been building from truckers and farmers who are losing business to Ukrainian goods and services is flowing into the the world’s largest trading block. It highlights the challenges of integrating Ukraine into the EU if approved.
Now, the industrial conflict is spilling into the arena, said Ukrainian charities.
About 200 pickup trucks are needed to transport ammunition and evacuate wounded people from the front line blocked at the border because “shipping has almost stopped,” said Ivan Poberzhniak, the head the purchase and use of Come Back Alive, the most charitable organizations of Ukraine to provide the military. and tools.
Polish protesters talk to a Ukrainian driver waiting to enter the Dorohusk-Jagodzin border crossing in Okopy, Poland, December 4, 2023. Photo by Kuba Stezycki/REUTERS
Pickup trucks are easy targets for Russia, so they can’t be stockpiled regularly, he said.
When drivers show papers to Polish drivers saying the vehicles are for the Ukrainian military, “it doesn’t have a significant effect on the protesters,” Poberzhniak said.
“We have to understand that in times of war, we need supplies every day to all sides,” he said.
Come Back Alive says 3,000 tourniquets are attached to the border. It has been possible to deliver drones, fire engines and batteries from the contents, “but that reserve is over,” Poberzhniak said.
The group is exploring other supply routes, he said, but there are few options, and the military’s request for equipment is growing.
Protesting truckers say not all deliveries identified as military aid are genuine. They are urging the EU to return the limit of the number of Ukrainian trucks that can enter the bloc.
Jaszczur, the organizer, said that Ukrainian truckers are making unauthorized transport throughout Europe. They are asking “very low prices” – 35 percent lower than what Polish truckers are paying – and are “driving us out of the market,” he said.
The same thing is happening in other countries like Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania, he said. Some Slovak truckers staged their own protest in recent days at the Ukrainian border.
Jaszczur said many Polish transport companies are going under due to pressure from Ukrainian competition.
While there is no immediate solution in sight, the change in leadership in Warsaw offers hope.
The new government is expected to be formed next week and will certainly be led by the pro-EU centrist Donald Tusk. He criticized the “inaction” of foreign governments, and offered hope to businesses affected by the blockade as well as to protesters.
“We will look for solutions that should satisfy Polish travelers, but we will not accept anything that could endanger the security of Poland. Who inspired or initiated them?” Tusk said on Friday, stressing that Ukraine is an important situation for Poland as it fights against Russian aggression.
READ MORE: EU official von der Leyen visits Kyiv to discuss Ukraine’s path to joining the European Union
Ukrainian driver Ivan Itchenko is one of those eagerly awaiting a result. He waited in Poland for several days with hundreds of others, trying to warm up at a rest stop on the highway until he could bring his load of salmon and herring to Ukrainian supermarkets.
“I clean the truck, clear the snow. Polish customs officials come and ask for documents three times a day,” Itchenko said on Thursday.
The 61-year-old hoped that his time to drive to the Korczowa-Krakovets crossing would come on Saturday.
“I live in Chernihiv (town), near Russia. Every day there are attacks. Now I am stuck on the Polish border. What do they want?”
With the temperature dropping, drivers are facing tough conditions, choosing not to heat their trucks to save fuel and facing limited access to food and restrooms, media reports say. Ukrainian.
Polish and Ukrainian officials are negotiating with help from the European Commission, the EU’s special agency, but opposition is growing.
“We don’t see any light in the tunnel, we don’t see any authorities, any government or the EU Commission really paying attention to this,” said Dariusz Matulewicz, of the drivers’ head in Szczecin, a city in western Poland.
The foreign government of Poland has “nothing against supporting Ukraine” but “aid should not be allowed to be done at the expense of Polish companies,” said the deputy minister for infrastructure, Rafal Weber, on Monday in Brussels.
The EU has forced Warsaw to find a way to end the blockade but has stuck to its negotiations with Kyiv. “It works in the European market, in Ukraine and Moldova,” said Adina Valean, the EU transport commissioner who also threatened sanctions against Poland.
According to Ukrainian officials, the truckers’ protest has added to their economic woes and will only benefit Russia.
Ukraine’s exports have fallen by 40 percent as a result of the four border blockades, and the state budget has lost about 9.3 billion hryvnias ($254 million) due to the lack of payment of duties, said Danylo Hetmantsev, the head of the finance and tax committee in the parliament of Ukraine. .
“Undoubtedly, this is a strong blow to our economy and our exports,” Hetmantsev said Tuesday on state TV.
AP reporters Vanessa Gera in Warsaw and Volodymyr Yurchuk in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed.