Governmental official speaks of negotiations with Polish protesters blocking border with Ukraine

Serhii Derkach, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, who represented Ukraine at a meeting with representatives of the Polish authorities and protesters to unblock border checkpoints, reports on the results of the negotiations.

Source: Derkach on Facebook, as reported by European Pravda

Details: According to the official, the main demand of Polish protesters is a return to the system of permits for freight transportation for Ukrainian drivers, although this issue can not be resolved at a meeting of such level.

Quote: "It was clear that the issue of further blocking the border was not so much to solve pressing issues and problems, but to make either a big communication campaign out of it, or to make this a political story and keep the border closed as long as possible," Derkach said.

He stressed that the fundamental requirement of Ukraine is the continued existence of a permit-free border crossing system and its continuation at least until Ukraine’s victory in the war with Russia.

"The absurdity of the demand is that Polish protesters do not refer to their government, but want Ukraine to ask the EU for permits. The protesters are not interested in other issues," said the deputy minister.

He added that Ukraine had agreed on separate negotiations "on the basis of bilateral communication with the Polish government, with voivodeships [administrative division in Poland that corresponds to a province in other countries – ed.]."

"We also need to involve the European Union in this conversation. They did not have time to join this meeting. Therefore, we will still wait for the response of the European Union to discuss this issue in a tripartite meeting," Derkach concluded.

On 6 November, dozens of Polish hauliers begun blocking the three border crossings with Ukraine

The protesters require, among other things, the introduction of commercial permits for Ukrainian companies to transport goods, with the exception of humanitarian aid and supplies for the Ukrainian military, and the suspension of licences for companies that were created after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, as well as their inspections.

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