Polish border blockade traps Ukraine’s critical military supplies, including drone components
Pickup trucks and tourniquets bound for Ukraine’s battlefield are stuck in the miles-long line at Poland’s border with Ukraine as Polish truckers continue their blockade, leaving components to build drones facing weeks of delays, The Guardia reports.
Ukrainian charities and military suppliers have voiced growing concerns over the border blockade by Polish truckers lasting since 6 November, leading to extended 30-kilometer queues, persisting for up to three weeks in freezing conditions.
The Polish protesters claim that Ukrainian truckers are jeopardizing their livelihoods after the EU eased restrictions on the number of Ukrainian drivers allowed to operate in Poland.
Drones destined for the frontline, according to Oleksandr Zadorozhnyi, the operational director of the Kolo Foundation, a provider of battlefield technology to the Ukrainian army, are experiencing significant delays of two to three weeks.
Approximately 200 pickup trucks, crucial for transporting ammunition and evacuating wounded soldiers from the frontline, are currently stranded at the border due to nearly halted deliveries, as stated by Ivan Poberzhniak, the head of procurement and logistics at Come Back Alive foundation, Ukraine’s leading charitable organization supporting the military with equipment.
“The pickup trucks are easy targets for Russia, so it’s impossible to deliver enough of them even normally,” he said.
The protesters claim they are not stopping military transports or humanitarian aid into Ukraine.
The Polish government has also denied reports that the delivery of military equipment to Ukraine has been impeded by Polish truckers blocking the Ukrainian border.
“I categorically deny that such a situation occurred. Military convoys that cross the border are convoys escorted by military police. They pass in a completely different way, [the same] as emergency vehicles, and are not hostages of any protests,” claimed Marcin Ociepa, Poland’s Vice-Minister for National Defense, talking to local media on 8 December.
Meanwhile, Donald Tusk, coalition leader of the newly elected Polish parliament seeking the Prime Minister post, promises to resolve the cargo blockade.
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