KYIV (Reuters) – Kyiv and Brussels are developing safeguards to make it impossible in the future to block the land borders of Ukraine and the European Union, Ukrainian deputy infrastructure minister Serhiy Derkach said on Wednesday.
Weeks of blockades by Polish drivers at border crossings have caused significant damage to Ukraine and it was only on Tuesday that Warsaw and Kyiv managed to unblock them.
“We are now working with the European Commission to make some safeguards so that borders and roads to border crossings cannot be blocked,” Derkach told national television.
Polish hauliers had been protesting over what they said was unfair competition from their Ukrainian counterparts, demanding that the EU reinstate a system in which Ukrainian companies need permits to operate in the bloc and the same for European truckers entering Ukraine.
Ukraine has been forced to significantly increase trade through its land borders as its previously main trade routes were blocked after the Russian invasion in February 2022.
The current border crossing regime will remain in place until June 30 and Derkach said Polish officials have promised to give Ukraine their suggestions on how the agreement, which is reviewed annually, can continue to work.
“It is very important for us that the border works, the agreement must work and the borders must be free, especially during the martial law,” he said.
Derkach said Ukraine now is working with each EU country to map the development of border crossings aiming to increase their number and capacity.
“We will activate all (export-import) routes considering that there is a risk of blocking borders with EU countries,” he said.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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