Ukraine invasion: Expatriate people’s revolt hits the road to blockade trucks at Poland-Belarus border

More than a thousand semi-trailers, stretching back 20km, grind to a halt at the Polish border just before entering Belarus.

Camilla waves the Ukrainian flag at the urging of her father at the Polish-Belarus border on Sunday. Picture: Annabel Moeller

Furious Ukrainians living in ­Poland have blocked the main transport artery into Belarus and then Russia, believing the West should have stopped road carriage of goods into the two countries weeks ago.

More than a thousand semi-trailers ground to a halt at the Polish border just before entering ­Belarus at Kukuryki on Sunday, causing a tailback of more than 20km. They also created heavy congestion on nearby small Polish rural roads as the trucks tried to find other routes to complete their journeys.

Incredibly, the actions of less than 40 expatriate Ukrainians, including a young child, standing peacefully on the road dismantled a major supply route into Russia.

All the while, politicians and leaders at the European Commission have spent weeks talking, yet have allowed container loads of imported goods to be carted from Europe into Russia via Belarus.

Ukrainian protesters on Sunday block trucks at the Kukuryki border heading to Belarus, causing a 20km tail back. Picture: Annabel Moeller

When photographer Annabel Moeller and I came across the trucks pulled on to the hard kerb beyond Biala Podlaska, we counted more than 500. Many of the trucks were stuck, unable to reverse or turn around. Many drivers had walked to a nearby truck rest stop where another 100 trucks were parked.

When we got to the front of the long queue – a 20-minute drive including past a police checkpoint where officials demanded to see identification – one of the first two semi-trailers that had been stopped was marked with the Russian military “Z’’ symbol in white on its rear door. That truck driver was nowhere to be found.

Standing in front of the first two trucks was a lady carrying a backpack with the Ukrainian flag draped around both; a small girl called Camilla who joyously waved the Ukrainian flag at the urging of her father, Roman; a family from Warsaw; some students from the same city; and a couple from Lublin.

A young woman handed around sweet black tea and ham-and-cheese sandwiches. The temperature had plummeted below zero as the sun set.

A truck driver, who refused to give his name, said only that he wanted to go home to his family in Russia. He said he was carrying foodstuffs.

The protesters say while the West has imposed sanctions on air cargo, countries had not done the same to road transport, and thousands of trucks were daily transporting various goods into Belarus, which will assist the Russian war on Ukraine.

Victoria, a graphic designer from Kyiv now living in Warsaw, said some of the trucks appeared to have picked up their container loads in Germany.

“The German people may know about this but they do not really think how crucial the position of Russians in Belarus is and they do not understand how much harm these trucks can pose by supplying Russian soldiers with food and other items,” she said.

Victoria said the contents of the containers were irrelevant.

The first truck in the queue marked with the Russian military ‘Z’. Picture: Annabel Moeller

“The border police are checking what is inside but you never know who these goods will go to,” she said.

“The border people cannot stop the trucks unless they are ­carrying weapons. Even if the trucks have cans of food, you do not know if the food is going to the soldiers or to the ordinary people.’’

Ilia, 26, who like all the other protesters did not want his surname used because of fears of trolling by Russians, said he had been living in Warsaw for six years, having moved from Kyiv.

“I think I can do something for my country because even though we are just 40 people here, we have stopped the goods going into Belarus, which of course are going straight through to Russia.

“We intend on staying here for as long as possible because the EU has not stopped this economic ­activity. Politics is politics, but money is money and we want to combine politics and money’.’

In recent days, various Ukrainian expatriate social media sites, have mentioned a man called ­Miroslav who tried to stop the trucks last week.

“He was just one person and of course he couldn’t stop the trucks, but word about what he tried to do has got out on social media and different people just decided to come down and see if a few more people could together stop the trucks,’’ Victoria said.

Mark, who originated from the besieged city of Mariupol, said some of the truck drivers he had spoken to down the line insisted there was no war, “that it is a fake”.

But he said: “Just 20km from here the Russians are firing rockets into Ukraine and killing people and destroying houses, and they claim not to know anything.”

The protesters were keenly watched by a handful of Polish border force officials and the local police, who were monitoring for any signs of frustration by the truck drivers.