After six days of waiting in freezing temperatures to cross the border between Poland and Ukraine, Ivan Lazaruskin is calculating how much diesel he has left to run the engine and warm the truck.
Like thousands of other mostly Ukrainian truckers, Lazaruskin is stuck at the border on his way home because Polish drivers have been blocking key crossings for the past month in protest against cheaper competition from Ukrainian-based haulers.
Arms shipments and essential goods have been allowed through, but the blockade is hurting Kiev’s trade at a time when its economy is struggling to show resilience in the face of Russian aggression.
The border protests, described by Ukraine’s ambassador in Warsaw as a stab in the back for Poland, are particularly poignant because they come from a neighboring country that has been one of Kiev’s staunchest supporters during the war. is the.
On Monday, Petro Darichuk was among the Ukrainian drivers who used the sun’s return to melt the snow that had accumulated on the roof of his truck after a stormy weekend. Darichak said the closure shows that relationships can change “very quickly” between neighbors.
![Pietro Daricek clears snow from the top of his truck about 10 kilometers before reaching Poland's border with Ukraine.](https://www.ft.com/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2F3396dac8-2c88-4354-8878-d5bc5823a5ee.jpg?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1)
“We used to need a permit which was never easy to get, then last year we were suddenly welcomed, and now we’re back to a wreck that I don’t remember in 15 years of driving to Europe. ” Darichak said.
“It’s like people forget about our fight and just think about making more money.”
After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Poland became the main route for people fleeing the conflict, with goods and weapons being blocked in the country. As its air border closed, Ukraine’s exports to the EU by road rose by nearly a third last year, according to research by Kyiv-based investment bank Dragon Capital.
The Polish truckers’ protests, which have merged with farmers’ complaints about cheap Ukrainian grain imports, come as Kiev struggles to get more aid from the United States and the European Union — and more of that. A sign of how the mood among allies has changed. Early days of the war.
Last year, Medica was one of the main gateways for refugees fleeing Ukraine. Now the coalition is limited to a few local residents who bring hot soup and meals to stranded drivers. Portable toilets have also been installed near their trucks.
![Map showing the main border crossings between Poland and Ukraine](https://www.ft.com/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd6c748xw2pzm8.cloudfront.net%2Fprod%2F19648270-939d-11ee-bc8f-8d79e7a64ed3-standard.png?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1)
Ukrainian officials have warned of a possible humanitarian crisis following reports that two drivers recently died while waiting to cross the border, as temperatures dropped below zero.
Although one lane was opened at the Dołhobyczów crossing on Monday to allow empty trucks to leave Ukraine, Polish drivers plan to continue blocking four other crossings. Slovakian drivers have also recently protested at their border with Ukraine.
The EU is threatening legal action against Poland, with Transport Commissioner Edina Willian criticizing the “dramatic” situation at the border. “We cannot ignore the incredible hardship drivers are going through, drivers on which our economies depend,” he said. Whelan spoke on Monday after a meeting of EU transport ministers failed to resolve the dispute.
The caretaker administration of Poland’s right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party has avoided confronting the national transport sector, which operates the EU’s largest truck fleet.
![The truck parked on the side of the road, waiting to cross the Polish-Ukrainian border in Medica.](https://www.ft.com/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2F091ce1c9-3696-400d-936e-3c89d5bb06f6.jpg?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1)
![Ivan Kropyvnytskyi, Ukrainian truck driver, inside his truck. He has been waiting for six days to leave Poland and return home.](https://www.ft.com/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2Fb262d3a2-ede9-4125-b27f-c28160e23cba.jpg?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1)
The Ukrainian Truckers Association recently warned that it has already lost 400 million euros in revenue because of the shutdown, with exports of wood products, car parts and vegetable oil particularly affected.
The trucking dispute during the late government transition in Warsaw could become a political headache for Poland’s Donald Tusk, who is expected to win elections in October next week as the leader of a pro-European coalition.
Meanwhile, far-right politicians visited the border to back Polish drivers and stoke anti-Ukrainian sentiment ahead of local elections in April. Tusk’s coalition has criticized PiS for allowing the blockade, but has stopped short of promising to break it.
With the support of the PiS government, Polish drivers want the EU to reintroduce quotas for Ukrainian trucks that were scrapped last year to help Kiev’s war effort. The drivers’ demands echo those of Polish farmers who complain of grain contamination due to the opening of the EU market to make Ukrainian grain cheaper. The PiS government introduced a unilateral embargo on Ukrainian grain – in violation of the EU’s common trade policy.
![Ivan Lazaryskyn, a Ukrainian trucker, on the Polish-Ukrainian border in Medica](https://www.ft.com/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2Fb0a238ab-e4b3-43ea-9361-0412ef728124.jpg?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1)
The two conflicts converge at Medica Crossing. Drivers and farmers take turns holding the picket line while grilling sausages and cooking cabbage.
“Drivers and farmers must fight together against unfair competition from Ukraine that does not follow any EU law, food quality and work rules,” said Polish grain farmer Maciej Pilak. He said farmers can afford to protest more this winter when their crops remain frozen.
Polish police have reached an agreement with protesters to keep the road clear for private vehicles, buses and military and humanitarian aid transports, including from the nearby airport in Rizzo.
Other truck drivers must park on the side of the road 25 kilometers before the border, and protesters only allow five trucks to cross an hour, including the military who get priority.
Lazaryskyn, who transports furniture, avoided blaming Warsaw or Brussels for the protests and said he suspected it had something to do with Moscow. “This protest is completely unjustified, because I actually think it should be financed by Russia.”