Polish PM Plans to Visit Kyiv

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced that he is preparing to visit Kyiv, although he has not specified when the trip will take place.

"It's a bit unreasonable of me to mention this, as I know the situation that President Zelenskyy and the whole of Ukraine are in. Going to Kyiv and devoting the entire visit to Polish transport issues is wrong. But we will prepare this visit in such a way that during my meeting with the president, it will be clear what we want to achieve," Tusk said, answering a question about the hauliers' protests on the Polish-Ukrainian border, as reported by TVN 24.

The Polish official said he would ask hauliers not to block crossings "precisely because of the war". The prime minister added that the situation is dramatic, vowing to do everything possible to make life easier for Polish hauliers.

Tusk also noted that the Polish government is approaching the possibility of ending the hauliers' blockade of several border crossings with Ukraine.

The blockade by Polish hauliers has been going on since 6 November. On Monday, 18 December, the hauliers resumed the blockade of the Dorohusk-Yahodyn checkpoint after it was interrupted due to a ban by local authorities.

They demand, among other things, the introduction of commercial permits for Ukrainian companies to transport goods, with the exception of humanitarian aid and supplies for the Ukrainian military.

Separately, representatives of the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ukrainian Ministry of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure agreed on an action plan to unblock the border during a meeting in Kyiv on Friday, 22 December.

The Polish government had supposed that the border could be unblocked by Christmas.