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Trucks at the Poland-Ukraine crossing are backed up for miles as
Polish truckers have blocked roads to three border crossings in
a protest, now in its second week.
In Slovakia, the main border crossing with Ukraine was also
blocked on Tuesday, although the country's haulers' union called
it the action of a single truck. The group has still warned it
could join Polish truckers in protest.
Truckers have sought to win restrictions on the number of
Ukrainian trucks entering the European Union.
Truckers from Ukraine have been exempt from seeking permits to
cross since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Polish and Slovak drivers say that has undercut business.
The spillover of long border queues hit Hungary on Wednesday,
with the main border crossing, Zahony, seeing long queues of
trucks waiting to enter Ukraine.
Authorities were stepping up efforts to let the increased
traffic through their border, the Hungarian Tax and Customs
Authority said, but the "capacity of the Tisza bridge and the
crossing point is severely limiting their possibilities."
Slovak news website Dennik N reported that the blockage at the
Slovakia-Ukraine crossing that started around midday on Tuesday
ended just before midnight, although queues there remained.
Polish truckers will also begin blocking the Medyka crossing
together with farmers on Thursday, a protest organizer said.
Ukraine and Poland held talks on the blockages at their border
last week but did not report any progress. The sides were to
have talks with the EU on Wednesday.
On Sunday, Ukrainian authorities said about 3,000 mostly
Ukrainian trucks, including those carrying fuel and humanitarian
aid, were stuck on the Polish side of the border.
(Reporting by Boldizsar Gyori; Editing by Jason Hovet and
Bernadette Baum)
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