Events in Ukraine, March 1-13: the struggle with the Poles continues
The Ukrainians give, the Polish take. Ukrainian counter-protests quashed, Polish blockade prolonged. More Ukrainian journalists arrested in Poland. Ukrainian refugees to work in Poland and not return
For more on the context of the Polish-Ukrainian trade war, see here.
20 February
Ukrainian truckers announce that they have staged a counter-protest which will continue until 15 March, blocking Polish goods from returning to Poland. They pledge to force Polish trucks to stand in the main line alongside Ukrainian trucks, but wont block polish trucks entering Ukraine.
1 March
According to Gazeta Prawna, the Polish government wants to harshen conditions for Ukrainian refugees. Refugee protection will be canceled for those who go back to Ukraine for a trip.
Polish policemen stop Ukrainian protestors from blocking Polish trucks. A strange verbal conflict ensues, with Ukrainians singing hymn in defiance.
3 March
Ukrainian volunteers claim that Polish farmers are blocking military aid for Ukraine. They accuse them of breaking glass on cars, which was disproven several days later by the Ukrainian embassy in Poland. As usual, the Ukrainian government is trying to patch over tensions, to little avail.
4 March
Polish protestors decide to continue the blockade until the May holidays - 30 April. Earlier they had claimed it would end on 10 march.
The EU agrarian lobby discusses a return of pre-2022 quotas for Ukrainian produce. Le Figaro put out an article stated that Ukraine is ‘destabilizing’ the EU agricultural sector. Lithuania and Latvia are reportedly flooded with Ukrainian milk, and Italy overflows with Ukrainian grain. The French newspaper says that the lack of tariffs on Ukrainian goods after 2022 has made EU goods uncompetitive. It concludes by recommending a return to the pre-2022 tariff situation, which can be quite readily described as neo-colonial.
A Polish protestor admits that they took money from Ukrainian trucks for them to pass through the border. One thousand zloty, or $250 USD. He stated this in a video which was published by Ukrainians. There were reports of this by strana on March 1, with truckers accusing other truckers with Lviv number plates of of paying 1000 zloty to jump the queue.
Earlier Deutsche Welle had published a report showing that some truckers had waited there up to 15 days. They said they had nowhere to wash or eat food. Because of the blockade, a 22 ton truck package costs minimum 4000 euros to go from Gdansk to Kiev - before it cost maximum 1500 euros.
The queue stretches for 28 kilometres inside Poland at the Rava-Russkaya-Grebenne crossing.
Ukrainian truckers state they have ceased to block Polish truckers on the border. They claim to want to come to an understanding with the Poles. Their hopes have not come to fruition.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Events in Ukraine to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.