"There is no humanitarian crisis on the Ukrainian border at the moment" - Father Andriy Pekanets, Vice-Director of Caritas-Spes of Lviv Archdiocese

The blockade of the Polish-Ukrainian border has been going on for almost a month now. This was announced on November 23 by Vasyl Zvarych, Ukraine's ambassador to Poland. During the entire period of tension on the border, the Uhryniv-Dolhobyczów border crossing was point partially reopened on December 4. More than 3,000 trucks are waiting to enter Ukraine at the four main checkpoints on the border with Poland - Yagodyn-Dorogusk, Rava-Ruska-Krebenne, Krakivets-Korchova, and Shehyni-Medyka. 

On December 6, the Caritas-Spes team of the Lviv Archdiocese visited two checkpoints to check the humanitarian situation at the border and provide hot meals to the drivers trapped at the border. 

Fr. Andriy Pekanets, vice director of Caritas-Spes of the Lviv Archeparchy, commenting on the situation at the border, said that the threat of a humanitarian crisis has been reduced at least on two directions: Krakivets-Korchova and Shehyni-Medyka. 

"Two of our teams went to the checkpoints in Shehyni and Krakivets. We went to study the needs and situation at the border. We brought 120 servings of hot soup, coffee, tea and buns. Our goal was to investigate the situation at the border and help people who are forced to wait for a pass with hot meals. Today, the situation at the border looks like this: from the Ukrainian side towards Poland, drivers are standing in an electronic queue. For example, at Shehyni, there are more than 2,000 cars in the electronic queue. This is a queue formed by the border guards, and drivers can track it and arrive at the border at the predicted time. This greatly facilitates the situation, thus avoiding a humanitarian catastrophe and preventing new victims on the part of the carriers," said Fr. Andriy. 

He also noted that physically, the teams found about 20-30 trucks waiting for their turn at both borders, so today there is no need to deliver hot meals for carriers from the Ukrainian side. On the Polish side, drivers have to stand in a physical queue. The Ukrainian government is currently trying to resolve this situation, but it is predicted that the border blockade may last for several months until a new government is formed in Poland.