The Ukrainian and Polish border and customs agencies agreed to open the Ustyluh-Zosin border crossing to empty trucks from Ukraine on 8 September. This applies to both Polish and Ukrainian trucks.
The first empty truck crossed the Ukrainian-Polish border at the Ustyluh checkpoint in the morning on 9 September.
Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Mustafa Nayem announced this, the CFTS portal reports.
According to Nayem, the Ustyluh-Zosin border crossing is the closest to the Yahodyn-Dorohusk border crossing, where the line of trucks waiting to enter Poland from Ukraine had already reached 60 kilometers the day before. The decision to allow empty trucks to cross the border at Ustyluh is expected to reduce the line of trucks in Yahodyn.
"We expect Polish truck drivers to unblock the Yahodyn-Dorohusk border crossing and our colleagues and friends in the Polish government to increase the number of phytosanitary and veterinary officials," Nayem said, commenting on the situation.
One of the demands of the Polish truck drivers that protested at the border crossing was that empty trucks returning to Poland should be allowed to cross the border without having to wait in line. According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure, meeting this demand would be unfair to Ukrainian truck drivers.
Earlier, representatives of the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure, the State Border Service, and the State Customs Service discussed the problematic situation involving trucks on the Ukrainian-Polish border at a news briefing in Kyiv the day before. They stated at the news briefing that Ukraine was ready to prepare and open the Hrushiv-Budomierz, Uhryniv-Dolhobyczow, and Smilnytsia-Kroscienko border crossings as soon as possible to allow empty trucks to cross from Ukraine into Poland without waiting in line.
"We need an agreement and action from our Polish counterparts. We are also ready to plan joint steps regarding the possibility of temporarily opening the Nyzhankovychi-Malhowice and Variazh-Usmierz border crossings by mid-October to allow unloaded trucks to cross," said Nayem.
