A local Polish court on Friday overturned the decision of the head of the Dorohusk municipality to ban the blocking of the Yahodyn-Dorohusk border crossing point (BCP), the leader of the protesters and representative of the far-right National Movement, Rafał Mekler, has said.
“We’re going back to the border,” Mekler wrote on his X page.
As reported, the head of the Dorohusk municipality dissolved the protest of Polish truck drivers on December 11 at 14:00 Kyiv time, and later refused to satisfy a new protest statement.
The protest of Polish truckers with the blockade of the Yahodyn-Dorohusk, Krakovets-Korczowa and Rava-Ruska-Hrebenne BCPs began on November 6, and on November 22 the blockade extended to the Shehyni-Medyka BCP, while only BCPs for empty vehicles and BCPs for light vehicles remained unblocked.
The organizers of the blockade, demanding the abolition of the agreement between the European Union (EU) and Ukraine on the carriage of freight by road, reported that, according to the official permission of the local authorities, it will last until January 3, 2024, but at some points there are already permissions to extend it until February. The Ukrainian side hoped for the unblocking of the border after a new government under the leadership of Donald Tusk came to power in Poland earlier this week, but this did not happen anywhere else except Dorohusk.
According to the State Customs Service, total exports by road from Ukraine in November fell by 26.7%, to 783,000 tonnes, while imports fell by 23.5%, to 967,100 tonnes. In particular, exports through Poland fell by 39.3%, to 282,300 tonnes, while imports fell by 44.6%, to 511,600 tonnes. The largest drop among the four blocked BCPs was recorded at Yahodyn-Dorohusk: exports – by almost 80%, to 32,400 tonnes, imports – by 68%, to 113,700 tonnes.