The information that the Polish truckers who blocked the Ukrainian border have connections with the Russian special services appeared a week ago. According to Ukrainian truck driver Pavlo Pavlov, Polish truckers do not deny supporting the Russian Federation.
What is happening on the Polish-Ukrainian border
The strike by Polish truckers at the Polish-Ukrainian border has been ongoing for three weeks.
Passage for Ukrainian drivers was blocked at the checkpoints "Grebenne — Rava-Ruska", "Korchova — Krakowiec", "Dorogusk — Yagodyn", and from November 23 also at the checkpoint "Medytsy—Shehyni".
According to the latest estimates, there are about 4,000 trucks in the queue. The most significant number is at the "Dorogusk-Yagodin" point, where more than 800 trucks have accumulated.
Journalists spoke with the Ukrainian truck driver Pavlo Pavlov, who got stuck at the border in the Dorogusk-Yagodin section.
According to him, Poland is a transit country because he transports goods to Ukraine from the Scandinavian countries and in the opposite direction.
I have been standing in line since 6:00 a.m. on November 10. Got in line 7 km from the city of Chelm. From this city, it is 17 km to the border. Today I am already near the border. There are 15 cars in front of me. Most likely, I will cross the border today.
Pavlo Pavlov draws attention to the fact that the protestors' primary demand is to let one car pass per hour, but sometimes, it is still possible to negotiate with Polish carriers.
There were cases when they let through 3-4 Ukrainian trucks.
First of all, the protesters really want us to speak Polish with them. Some of our drivers do. But some are already so radical that they refuse.
How Poles react to accusations of ties with Russia
Pavlo Pavlom notes that during discussions with Polish carriers, Ukrainians quite often refer to their actions as terrorists.
This causes new conflicts. However, interestingly, the organizers of the blockade do not deny that they support Russia.
They react conflictingly. All drivers perfectly understand the political situation. Everyone knows what's going on. We directly tell them that their organizer is a pro-Russian person. That this is a mutiny, that this is a terrorist act. They have a negative reaction to this, they are insulting us. They do not say about it (that they support Russia — ed.), but they do not deny it.
According to Pavlo Pavlov, the majority of Polish drivers support their Ukrainian colleagues and have a negative attitude towards the terrorist organization that staged the protest.
He draws attention to the fact that this terrorist organization includes two Polish trucking companies that were engaged in the delivery of goods to the territory of the Russian Federation and Belarus.
Although they called themselves the Organization of Freight Transportation of Poland, something like that. Moreover, they say that they defend their opinion on behalf of all motor carriers in Poland. But this is not so, because only two companies united in the protest.
