Ukraine says Polish protesters lift border blockade
KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine's border authorities said Polish truck drivers who had been blocking three crossings on the Polish-Ukrainian border lifted all blockades, allowing traffic to pass freely.
Poland's infrastructure minister said earlier on Tuesday that truckers who have blockaded Ukraine crossings since November would suspend their protest until March 1 after signing an agreement with the government.
Polish hauliers had been protesting over what they said was unfair competition from their Ukrainian counterparts, demanding that the European Union reinstate a system in which Ukrainian companies need permits to operate in the bloc and the same for European truckers entering Ukraine.
"Today, Polish strikers unblocked the Korczowa-Krakowiets checkpoint. As of this hour, about 300 trucks are queuing to enter Ukraine from the Polish side," the customs service said on the Telegram messaging app.
Later, the border service said in statements that protesters had also halted their blockade at the Rava-Ruska crossing and then a third crossing point, Dorohusk-Jagodzin.
"Registration and passage of freight vehicles across the border in both directions is going ahead in the usual manner," the service said.
Ukraine says the blockade has caused serious economic losses and has hampered its war effort. It says cross-border transportation has increased because of the war and the fact that its main export and imports routes through the Black Sea were blocked.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Ros Russell, Ron Popeski and Leslie Adler)
