The Polish-Ukrainian border has turned into a zone of extreme tension. In recent days, the situation at the border checkpoints (BCCs) has sharply worsened: the waiting time to enter Ukraine has reached critical levels of 12 hours. People and vehicles are forced to stand in jams while border guards try to cope with the colossal influx of citizens.
Record passenger flow and jams at Krakovets
The situation at the border was commented on by a representative of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGS) Andriy Demchenko. According to him, the reason for the jams lies in the sharp increase in passenger flow. Queues are forming not only on the Ukrainian side but also on the territory of neighboring countries, creating a "bottleneck" effect.
Particular attention is drawn to the Krakovets checkpoint. At the moment, more than 260 cars are accumulated in the queue to enter Ukraine. The situation is exacerbated by weekends, when the flow of people wishing to cross the border increases even more compared to weekdays.
Statistics from recent days confirm alarming trends. According to SBGS data, yesterday showed the highest border crossing figure for the entire month of June — 141 thousand citizens. At the same time, a slight advantage was on the side of entering Ukraine, which became the catalyst for the current jams.
Problems with bus transport
In addition to private cars, international carriers are also experiencing serious difficulties. Earlier, the Polish side warned about a possible temporary suspension of bus processing for entry into Poland through the "Shehyni — Medyka" checkpoint. The reason for this step was repair work on one of the key crossings.
Despite initial concerns, Ukraine and Poland managed to agree that bus processing through this checkpoint would continue uninterrupted throughout the summer season. However, as experts note, delays have still been observed at Shehyni since June 15 due to repairs. This led to a temporary reduction in capacity on the bus route.
As a result, buses are forced to stand in queues for 8–12 hours. The Polish side acknowledges the problem and plans to take steps to solve it, but for now, passengers have to put up with long waits. The situation at the border remains tense, and a high level of congestion is forecasted for the coming days.