Customs Service: Polish protesters to resume blockade at Krakovets crossing with Ukraine

Polish protesters said they would resume blocking cargo vehicles at the Korczowa-Krakovets border crossing with Ukraine at 10 a.m. local time on March 13 after temporarily suspending the protests there, Ukraine's Customs Service said, citing the Polish side.

Polish farmers began blocking six border crossings in February in protest of Ukrainian agricultural imports and EU environmental policies, with carriers later joining the blockade as well.

Some farmers' leaders said later on March 13 that they would allow all trucks waiting at the Dorohusk-Yahodyn crossing to freely enter Ukraine, but the plan did not come to pass as other organizers opposed it. Trucks going to Poland would still be blocked.

"Some of the organizers wanted this, but unfortunately, there was no full agreement among the protesters, and we finally agreed that we would increase the number of trucks allowed through to five per hour," said Wojciech Los, who heads the farmers' protests near Dorohusk.

Los called it a "gesture toward Ukrainian drivers so that they can return to a country that is in a difficult situation during the war."

The ongoing disputes have led to deteriorating relations between Kyiv and Warsaw. Protestors spilled Ukrainian grain on several occasions, sparking outrage in Ukraine.

Polish farmers, agrarian workers, foresters, and hunters staged a general strike in Warsaw on March 6, a week after Polish farmers organized a mass protest in Warsaw on Feb. 27

Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at a press conference on March 4 that the border blockade and ongoing trade disputes with Poland have a higher economic cost to Warsaw than Kyiv.