Slovak carriers block main border crossing point with Ukraine

For an hour, a warning action in support of Polish colleagues demanding limits on the number of Ukrainian trucks entering the European Union took place. The Union of Slovak Road Carriers (UNAS) blocked the crossing point at the border with Ukraine, ‘Vysne Nemecke – Uzhhorod,’ from the Slovak side starting at 13:00. The warning action lasted for one hour. This was reported by the Slovak media Aktuality.

Slovak carriers expressed their support for Polish colleagues who have been protesting for several days against the liberalization of EU rules for Ukrainian trucks. Long-haul drivers blocked the road to the crossing with passenger cars.

‘We will close it for an hour as a warning. Our goal is to support our Polish colleagues as well as all carriers within the EU. We will ask the European Commission to immediately introduce permits for Ukrainian transport because European companies cannot compete with them,’ said UNAS President Stanislav Skala.

Slovak carriers stated that they would wait for a reaction for seven days. In case of no response, they threaten to completely block this crossing point. Stanislav Skala hinted that similar actions are being prepared by his Hungarian colleagues. ‘The blockade did not affect the operation of the customs office in Vysne-Nemecke,’ said Katarina Dankova, a spokesperson for the Kosice customs office, after the protest. UNAS disagrees with the decision of the European Commission, which canceled issuing permits for Ukrainian carriers to enter the EU after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier, the press secretary of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, Andriy Demchenko, reported that movement at the border with Slovakia towards Ukraine remains unaffected. Slovak border guards did not announce any preparations to block the border with Ukraine. Recall that on November 6th, a strike by Polish carriers began at the border. There were reports of the blockade of freight traffic towards crossing points ‘Yagodyn-Dorohusk,’ ‘Krakovets-Korchova,’ ‘Rava-Ruska-Grebenne.'”