Third Ukrainian trucker dies due to Polish blockade of Ukraine’s border

The third Ukrainian truck driver has died while stuck in winter conditions amid Polish truckers’ blockade of key border crossings with Ukraine.

byYuri Zoria

17/12/2023

2 minute read

Ukrainian trucks blocked on the Polish-Ukrainian border December 2023. Source: slovoidilo

Third Ukrainian trucker dies due to Polish blockade of Ukraine’s border

On 16 December, a truck driver died due to a strike by Polish carriers at the Krakivets-Korczowa checkpoint on the Polish-Ukrainian border. Volodymyr Balin, Vice President of the Association of International Road Carriers, confirmed it in his remarks to Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne.

"The driver was taken away by an ambulance and died on the way to the hospital. I don't know which company he was from," Balin said.

In November, Polish truckers initiated a blockade of four key border crossings with Ukraine as a protest against relaxed EU transit rules for Ukrainian truckers, demanding a return of commercial transport permits for Ukraine. The border blockade led to long queues on both sides of the border, leaving drivers stranded in winter conditions. This is the third case of a Ukrainian driver's death since the start of the blockade of Ukrainian-Polish checkpoints.

On 11 November, a 54-year-old truck driver from Ukraine died in a parking lot near the Dorohusk-Yagodyn checkpoint in Poland while waiting to cross the border.
On 23 November, another Ukrainian driver died in Poland in a parking lot near the Korczowa-Krakivets checkpoint.

Amid the Polish truckers' strike, Polish farmers joined the protest at the fifth border crossing on 23 November. On 11 December, Polish carriers ended a strike at the Yahodyn-Dorohusk crossing, but a truck blocked the road again. According to Suspilne, the organizer of the previous strike filed a new application for a second protest, which he wanted to start on 18 December, but the mayor of Dorohusk, Wojciech Sawa, did not approve the application.