Polish Hauliers at Dorohusk-Yahodyn Checkpoint Start Letting More Vehicles into Ukraine

Polish hauliers blocking the Dorohusk-Yahodyn checkpoint have started to let more vehicles pass, and the queue movement has accelerated over the past day.

According to RMF24, a total of 1,050 lorries are waiting on the Polish side, with a queue length of 26 kilometres. Although the protesters had previously announced their intention to let only one lorry through every three hours, recently they have been letting five lorries through per hour. 

Over the past 24 hours, 149 lorries have crossed the border toward Ukraine. Some more hauliers left the queue and went to look for another way. In total, the queue decreased by 350 lorries. 

The estimated wait time for border crossing is now 135 hours, or 5-6 days, compared to 30 days on Tuesday. 

But only one lorry passed through the Dorohusk-Yahodyn checkpoint to enter Poland. 

Over the past day, 120 lorries have passed at the Hrebenne checkpoint toward Ukraine, and another 800 are waiting in line. 

More than 700 hauliers are waiting at the Medyka checkpoint; the wait time is four days. 

About 600 lorries are waiting at the Korczowa-Krakovets checkpoint. 

At the same time, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGS) notes that it is impossible to talk about a change in the dynamics of lorry traffic through the Dorohusk-Yahodyn checkpoint.

"Indeed, over the previous day, more than a hundred lorries crossed the border towards Ukraine (as opposed to the last few days, when less than two dozen lorries entered per day), but we can talk later about whether this dynamic will continue.

We cannot talk about an increased intensity of the dynamic, because even half of the checkpoint's capacity is not being used. Let me remind you that between 11 and 18 December, when the traffic was unblocked, 600 to 800 lorries could cross the border into Ukraine per day," Andrii Demchenko, the spokesman of the SBGS, said.

On Monday, 18 December, the hauliers resumed the blockade of the Dorohusk-Yahodyn checkpoint after it was temporarily halted due to a ban by local authorities.

The hauliers plan to protest until March. The blockade also continues at the Hrebenne and Korchova checkpoints.

Last week, representatives of the relevant ministries of Ukraine and Poland agreed on actions to unblock the border.

Newly-appointed Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk believes that the blockade of the Ukrainian border will stop soon.