Slovakia’s border crossing with Ukraine was blocked by a single truck on Tuesday, according to police and media reports. However, the Slovakian truckers’ union distanced itself from the blockade, claiming it was an isolated incident. Slovak truckers are supporting their Polish counterparts who are trying to limit the number of Ukrainian trucks entering the EU. Last week, they staged a symbolic brief blockade of the main border crossing to show their support, but said they would wait for negotiations before taking further steps.
The Slovak News Agency TASR reported that a truck blocked the Vysna Nemecka crossing on Tuesday, citing the Slovak transport union UNAS. Union president Stanislav Skala told Reuters by phone that the union would wait for talks by EU, Polish, and Ukrainian officials before officially joining the blockades of Polish colleague. Miloslav Tokar of the Slovak border police stated that the truckers blocked the border crossing at noon and were only letting a limited number of Ukrainian trucks cross.
Ukrainian customs announced on Telegram that “unknown persons blocked cargo traffic without any warning”. However, Ukraine had not received any official information from the Slovak side about why this happened or how long it would last. She said that five an hour starting at 8 p.m., they will start releasing trucks across their territory towards Poland and Lithuania borders and also added that this is in line with agreements reached between Ukraine and Poland last week which allowed some movement in both directions but not all cargo could be released due to lack of permits for those vehicles.