Serhiy Derkach, Deputy Minister of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine

On November 6, the announced protest of Polish carriers on the Polish-Ukrainian border began. The following checkpoints are blocked for freight traffic: Krakivets-Korchova, Hrebenne-Rawa-Ruska, and Dorohusk-Yagodyn. According to the information circulating, the blockade will last for two months. On the morning of November 7, the Ministry of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine reported that representatives of the Ukrainian side had not received any official demands or requests from Polish road carriers or the government. Ukrinform asked Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Serhiy Derkach about the situation on the Ukrainian-Polish border as of Tuesday evening, November 7.

- During the day on November 7, did Ukraine receive official documents from the Polish side? What level of communication is currently taking place between our countries regarding the actions of Polish carriers?

- We have not yet received any documents. We are waiting for the outcome of the negotiations to be held by the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure with the local carriers. Today [Tuesday, November 7.] I contacted Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Rafal Weber, who said that they had indeed received confirmation, just before the protest started, that the strike was going to take place. And a colleague told me that their carriers were planning to hold their action at two checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Polish border. And it started at three. That is, we received inaccurate information from the Polish side, which indicates that the protesters do not have a clear position that they would define even for their Ministry of Infrastructure. That's why we are waiting for the results of the negotiations, which are ongoing at the moment.

- So I understand correctly that the authorities in Poland itself have no official comment on the situation on our common border?

- The Polish side informed us that there will be protests, that the protesters have several demands to Ukraine. From what the deputy minister told me, it was about the return of permits. The second demand is to create a separate corridor for EU vehicles and a corridor for empty vehicles at the crossing points.

Regarding the abolition of transportation liberalization, by the way, the Polish side officially replied to us before the protests began that this demand was not possible to fulfill. And this position of the Polish government was communicated in an official letter to Polish carriers: it is impossible to cancel the agreement on liberalization of transportation, because it is a matter of bilateral agreements between the EU and Ukraine. And Poland cannot do anything unilaterally. This was clearly stated.

So I see that there is a reaction from the Polish government. The question is different - there are no clear demands from the strike organizers themselves. We have seen from the media that the carriers are addressing a lot of their complaints to the Polish government, not to Ukraine. For example, regarding the ban on registration of companies from Ukraine and Belarus in Poland. The carriers claim that Belarusians are allegedly circumventing the sanctions by registering their vehicles in Poland and are actually creating competition for local carriers.

There was a question about a possible subsidy to carriers from the Polish government. These are questions for the leadership of their country. And, frankly, I don't know how we can respond to these unofficial accusations. Therefore, we are waiting for information from the Polish government today [November 8]. At most, tomorrow. And then we will start negotiations to resolve the issue on the merits.

- Among the strikers' demands, you did not mention the call for access to our "Shlyakh" system. Has this issue been removed from the agenda?

- Everything you know, we also know. That is, we know about the 5-7 demands that were broadcast by the media and confirmed by the Ukrainian embassy in Poland, because they were provided with this information by their Polish colleagues. There was a question about the access of Polish carriers to the "Shlyakh" system. But this requirement is, in principle, impossible to fulfill. During martial law, our men cannot safely travel abroad, work for foreign companies, whether in Poland, Germany, or elsewhere, and travel between Ukraine and these countries. And if we're speaking for drivers, this is a discriminatory rule against other men who work for foreign companies and have restrictions on traveling abroad.

- When the strike began, Polish carriers emphasized that they would allow vehicles with security and humanitarian cargo, those transporting animals, perishable food, and so on to cross the border. Are these promises being fulfilled?

- Yes, they are. They are. And passenger cars are traveling without any problems. But there is not much of it. For example, Yahodyn is a cargo checkpoint, and a small number of buses pass through it per day. And passenger cars are not allowed to pass through here at all. Cars and buses do pass through other checkpoints, but not in critical numbers.

As for freight transport, it is allowed through. But, depending on the checkpoint, these days it is two to three times less than usual. For example, on November 6 (and the strike began at about 13:30), 261 trucks passed through the Rawa-Ruska-Hrebenne checkpoint, 252 through Yahodyn-Dorohusk, and 176 through Krakivets-Korchova.

On November 7, from 0:00 to 16:00, 265 trucks passed through Krakivets-Korchova, 203 through Rawa-Ruska-Hrebenne, and 33 through Yahodyn-Dorohusk. For comparison, on November 5, a total of 936 trucks crossed through these three crossing points.

- As for the position of the Ukrainian side, what points are we ready to discuss?

- First, we need to understand a clear and exhaustive list of these requirements. Specifically to Ukraine. The second issue is the realism of these requirements. For example, Polish carriers are asking for a separate lane for empty vehicles at Yahodyn. What problem do the Poles want to solve in this way? If they want to solve the issue of faster border crossing, because they travel empty, and they do travel mostly empty after unloading imports imported to Ukraine, then at Yahodyn recently 30% of all vehicles returning to Poland were empty. There are 12 lanes at this point. If you allocate one lane for empty vehicles, they will all be in that lane and stand in a separate queue. Or maybe they want to have priority passage because they are Polish? Well, no one will probably allow this. Or do they think that empty vehicles need to go faster than loaded ones now because Ukraine needs more imports than exports? Probably not.

That is, we need to understand what exactly they want to achieve, what problem they want to solve, so that we can think further about how to do it.

- It is probably too early to say when the situation will be resolved. We need to act as soon as possible, because two months is not an option for us...

- I will tell you that even one day is not an option. In fact, blocking the border is not an option for Ukraine at all. Therefore, we definitely need to use all diplomatic methods to constantly appeal to both the EU and the Polish side to resolve this issue.

But first and foremost, we need to understand exactly what issues the Polish side is raising today or tomorrow. It seems to me that this is a political story. And they don't necessarily want Ukraine to fulfill the demands we hear about. They just want to block the border, make a statement or physically prevent our carriers from entering Poland, and that's it.

- Can you calculate Ukraine's losses per day of such a blockade?

- It's hard to say how much it is in monetary terms. Until November 6, for example, the Yahodyn-Dorohusk checkpoint averaged 1,430 vehicles in both directions per day. Rawa-Ruska and Krakivets let 200-300 vehicles through each way.

In general, we lose about 800-1000 vehicles a day that could be running between Ukraine and Europe.

- This is not the first time that the borders between Ukraine and Poland have been closed. Is today's strike a continuation or a separate story?

- I think it is a continuation of the story. Please note that in Ukraine, the border has been blocked exclusively on the Polish side. Either farmers or carriers, someone is always blocking the border. This is the kind of protest that the Polish authorities, local or state, allow. I think it's wrong to allow blocking the border, especially with a neighboring country that is at war. You can protest by blocking the roads under your ministry and so on. But a border blockade is a measure that is resorted to in exceptional cases when your neighbor is an enemy. In our case, we are allies.

- Ukraine and Poland even signed a memorandum on the capacity of our border crossings. Did this tool turn out to be ineffective?

- We are constantly talking about the problems on the part of our Polish colleagues and publishing figures. For example, in October, Poland fulfilled the plan by just over 50%. This is the worst figure in recent months. And it was in October, when seasonal exports of our products were growing, that the capacity of the checkpoints decreased because our colleagues started repairing the scales at the Yagodyn-Dorohusk checkpoint.

If the Poles allowed twice as many vehicles through, as stated in the memorandum, we would have almost no queues at the border, even during peak hours. But we have what we have.

Yulia Abakumova

Photo by Hennadiy Minchenko