Ukrainian truck drivers stand close to an extended line of vans as they look ahead to days on the Dorohusk border in Poland.

Claire Harbage/NPR

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Claire Harbage/NPR

Ukrainian truck drivers stand close to an extended line of vans as they look ahead to days on the Dorohusk border in Poland.

Claire Harbage/NPR

DOROHUSK, Poland — Leszek Stasiak, who owns a small Polish trucking firm, has been manning the night time shift on the blockade of the Dorohusk border crossing with Ukraine.

It’s efficient: a line of about 1,000 vans stretches again greater than 20 miles into Poland.

“This is a fight for our existence,” he says, a little bit after 9 p.m., his yellow reflective vest catching the glare from headlights of vans on the entrance of the road, ready for his approval to cross.

For two months, Polish truckers have been blocking visitors on the Ukraine-Poland border, holding up hundreds of vans ready to cross. They are outraged over the European Union’s resolution to take away limits on what number of Ukrainian drivers and companies can enter Poland and the EU.

Stasiak says he’s right here as a result of his enterprise of 5 vans, which he owns together with his son, cannot compete with the inflow of Ukrainian drivers flooding the market.

Leszek Stasiak runs a small trucking enterprise in Poland. He is a part of the truck blockade on the Poland-Ukraine border as a result of he feels their livelihoods are underneath risk with the present guidelines with Ukrainian truckers.

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Leszek Stasiak runs a small trucking enterprise in Poland. He is a part of the truck blockade on the Poland-Ukraine border as a result of he feels their livelihoods are underneath risk with the present guidelines with Ukrainian truckers.

Claire Harbage/NPR

“Ukrainian drivers, they drive around like they’re members of the EU — like us — and they take away our bread, they take away our work,” he says.

On at the present time, Stasiak and his fellow protesters are letting simply 5 vans cross per hour; on different days, it slows to only a trickle of two or three. In November, the primary month of the blockade, Ukraine experienced a $160 million loss in exports and imports have been down by $700 million in contrast with the earlier month.

A wartime gesture of help has acquired sudden blowback

Before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU used a allow system to maintain the variety of Polish and Ukrainian drivers crossing their widespread border about equal. The European Union has suspended the allow system, as a technique to help the Ukrainian economic system and assist the nation throughout wartime.

With airports in Ukraine shut down and the Black Sea mined by Russia, the land borders with Poland — the longest of its neighbors — grew to become Ukraine’s primary connection to the European Union. The variety of vans crossing shot up, the vast majority of these being pushed by Ukrainians.

Stasiak and the opposite Polish protesters blocking the crossing say they need the allow system restored.

A person sells snacks and drinks from his bicycle to the Ukrainian truck drivers caught on the border with Poland.

Claire Harbage/NPR

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A person sells snacks and drinks from his bicycle to the Ukrainian truck drivers caught on the border with Poland.

Claire Harbage/NPR

The modifications available in the market have Stasiak contemplating shifting his enterprise away from transferring items throughout the continent, to driving music tools for touring bands. He’s not too long ago had a contract for the Irish dance show dance present Rhythm of the Dance.

He would not have a lot sympathy for the Ukrainian drivers ready weeks at border crossings all through Poland — which simply earlier than New Year’s totaled about 5,000 vans. “That’s just the job,” Stasiak says, as he tells of his adventures driving in rural Russia and elsewhere.

Waiting is nothing, he says, he is performed loads of it in his a long time of being a driver.

Behind Stasiak’s spot on the entrance of the road, away from his heated camper, the Ukrainian drivers have a a lot totally different take, particularly as temperatures drop alongside the Polish border.

“There is a war going on at home and we are stuck here,” says Oleksandr Nekrasov, who’s from Lutsk in western Ukraine. He’s been ready on the border for practically two weeks.

He and a bunch of a couple of dozen males are gathered on the facet of the street, chatting and having a smoke. His truck, which is carrying propane headed to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, sits a brief distance away. The drivers have about 50 minutes earlier than they’re going to want to maneuver their vans ahead, as 5 extra automobiles are allowed to advance to the crossing.

Truck driver Oleksandr Nekrasov, who’s initially from Lutsk in western Ukraine, waits close to his truck on the Dorohusk border in Poland. He has been caught on the border for practically two weeks.

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Truck driver Oleksandr Nekrasov, who’s initially from Lutsk in western Ukraine, waits close to his truck on the Dorohusk border in Poland. He has been caught on the border for practically two weeks.

Claire Harbage/NPR

“It’s punishing, just awful,” says Nekrasov. Most of the drivers have been ready in line for 13 or 14 days, and a few say they’re working low on meals, water and cash.

Another Ukrainian driver, Serhii Strelok, who has been ready for 14 days, opens up his cab, to point out us his dwelling quarters behind his seat. There’s a small fuel range, a mini-fridge, and a mattress with blankets.

He tells us drivers sleep every time they’ll as a result of nobody can go away their vans. It’s not unusual for a driver to go to sleep on the wheel — with the truck’s engine off — inflicting different drivers — and even the police — to wake them up to allow them to inch ahead in line.

Serhii’s son, Yevgeny, who drives for a similar Ukrainian transport firm, is driving the truck straight in entrance of his. It was not deliberate, they are saying, however being collectively in line has made a foul scenario just a bit bit higher.

Ukrainian truck driver Serhii Strelok waits on the Dorohusk border in Poland to get dwelling to Ukraine.

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Ukrainian truck driver Serhii Strelok waits on the Dorohusk border in Poland to get dwelling to Ukraine.

Claire Harbage/NPR

Poland’s authorities is punting to the EU

Poland’s new prime minister, Donald Tusk, has stated any decision of the border blockade should come from the European Union, which lifted the allow system. He is planning a visit to Kyiv and stated the blockade could be on the agenda.

In current weeks, the protesters have additionally been assembly with the Ministry of Infrastructure, the a part of the Polish authorities that offers with transport, to attempt to resolve their complaints, although nothing has been settled.

Last week, as politicians conferred and the Ukrainian drivers waited to cross, Russia launched its largest aerial attack because the battle started, hitting cities throughout Ukraine, and killing dozens.

The Ukrainian drivers have been following the assaults intently on their telephones, via social media and texts with family and friends. Stanislau Kolisnyk, who’s driving a truck stuffed with steel plates for protecting vests, pulls up a video of the aftermath of a kind of assaults within the metropolis of Dnipro.

“We are willing to drive to these places that are dangerous,” he says. “I’ll drive to Dnipro to Kharkiv — to cities that are close to the front line. Polish drivers just want to cross to western Ukraine.”

The Polish protesters have a allow for the blockade, which is monitored by native police, however Kolisnyk remains to be incensed that the suitable to protest can intrude so plainly with worldwide borders and commerce.

“OK, the Poles have a permit to protest. But do they have a permit to disrupt the flow of goods between two countries?” he asks.

Stasiak (left) and one other Polish protestor cease a truck at night time on the Dorohusk border in Poland.

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Stasiak (left) and one other Polish protestor cease a truck at night time on the Dorohusk border in Poland.

Claire Harbage/NPR

Another Ukrainian driver, Oleksandr Khalamendyk, has comparable sentiments. “Go block the government in Warsaw,” he says, “Leave us at the border out of it.” Some Polish drivers did attempt that again within the spring, but it surely did not get practically as a lot consideration.

At a border crossing additional south, Polish farmers have staged another on-again, off-again protest. Their calls for are barely totally different from the truckers and transport enterprise homeowners: Among different calls for, they need the Polish authorities to supply subsidies for corn as a result of costs are low, partially due to elevated Ukrainian imports.

Despite the continuing blockade, a number of Ukrainian drivers inform NPR they plan to maintain making this journey into and out of Poland.

Khalamendyk, who’s carrying manufacturing unit components, is only a few vans from the entrance of the road. He picked up his load in Germany after which spent 13 days ready in line right here at Dorohusk. He’s annoyed, he is only some hours from his vacation spot, however he can’t cross. Maybe he’ll make it by tomorrow, he says, optimistically.

Khalamendyk has been dreaming of the new, correct meal he’ll have when he is lastly again in Ukraine. Will he do that once more, understanding he’ll have to attend this lengthy once more — or longer?

Absolutely, he says. “I’ve got a family. I need the money.”

NPR photographer Claire Harbage and producer Grzegorz Sokół contributed reporting.