Polish truckers have ended their blockade at the Jagodzin-Dorohusk checkpoint on the border with Ukraine, the State Border Service reported on January 16 after the truckers reached an agreement earlier to suspend their protest over unfair competition.
The Jagodzin-Dorohusk border crossing was the last of three on the Polish-Ukrainian border to lift blockades that had been in place since November.
"According to information from the Border Guard of the Republic of Poland, at 8 p.m. (local time) Polish carriers ended the protest action at the border," the Ukrainian Border Service said, referring to the Jagodzin-Dorohusk border crossing.
The border guards added that the processing of trucks is taking place in both directions as usual.
Protests at the two other checkpoints that had been blocked -- at the Korczowa-Krakowiets and Rava-Ruska crossings -- were suspended earlier on January 16.
"Registration and passage of freight vehicles across the border in both directions is going ahead in the usual manner," the Border Service said.
The Polish customs service said the Korczowa-Krakowiets checkpoint was no longer blocked and about 300 trucks were queuing by late in the day to enter Ukraine from the Polish side.
The Polish truckers had blockaded the three crossings with Ukraine since November.
Ukraine said the blockade caused serious economic losses and hampered its war effort. Cross-border traffic has increased because of the war and the fact that its main export and imports routes over the Black Sea were blocked.
Polish haulers had been protesting over what they said was unfair competition from their Ukrainian counterparts and demanding that the European Union reinstate a system in which permits are required for Ukrainian companies to operate in the bloc and the same for European truckers entering Ukraine. The permit system was canceled by the EU at the start of Russia's war against Ukraine.
Polish Infrastructure Minister Dariusz Klimczak said the protesters reached an understanding with the government and planned to unblock checkpoints starting at noon on January 17, but the blockade ended earlier. According to Klimchak, the decisions agreed upon by the parties must be implemented by March 1 in order to maintain the suspension of the protest.
