Kyiv considers farm blockades on the border with Poland a threat to its security

Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Alexander Kubrakov this Monday classified the blockade of Polish farmers on the border between the two countries as a “threat to the security of Ukraine.”

“The border blockade represents a direct threat to the security of the defending country. Such actions negatively affect our confrontation with a common enemy called Russia,” Kubrakov criticized on Facebook.

“All exports have suffered. We can say that the situation is critical,” the minister later added on national television.

“Not only agricultural products are blocked, but also [os manifestantes] block everything. There are trucks with fuel. A few days ago there were cases when protesters did not allow several trucks with weapons to pass,” he said.

According to the Ukrainian department, six checkpoints were blocked on the Polish side of the border.

“The most critical situation has developed at the Yagodin-Dorogusk checkpoint, where freight traffic has completely stopped. Humanitarian cargo, perishable food and fuel are stopped,” said Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Sergei Derkach.

According to Michal Derus, a representative of the Chamber of Tax Administration in Lublin (eastern Poland), “about 600 trucks are currently waiting to leave Poland” at the Dorohusk border crossing, and “the estimated waiting time for this number of trucks to cross is approximately 232 hours,” reported he is in the morning of France-Presse.

“Not a single truck entered Poland [proveniente da Ucrânia]then we must assume that this is a total blockade,” he added.

The Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine also mentioned the blocking of passenger buses.

“Women and children who became refugees after fleeing war and returning home for various reasons cannot become hostages of commercial interests,” said Alexander Kubrakov.

“We expect concrete actions from our Polish colleagues to avoid such situations and solve the problem as a whole,” he said.

Since November last year, Polish farmers have regularly blocked several border crossings with Ukraine to protest competition from the neighboring country.

Poland has been among Ukraine’s strongest supporters since Russia’s aggression against the country on February 24, 2022, but tensions over Warsaw’s unilateral ban on Ukrainian grain imports have strained relations between the two allies.

In recent days, Poland has raised the possibility of introducing new import bans on Ukrainian agricultural products to protect its farmers.