#Border Crossings

Ukraine is developing a plan to relocate border checkpoints to EU territory due to Russian attacks on border infrastructure. Deputy Minister Derkach discussed negotiations with Poland and Slovakia and the installation of mobile shelters.

On the night of September 24, Russian drones attacked Chernivtsi Oblast, violating the airspace of Moldova and Romania. ISW calls this a conscious Kremlin strategy to normalize violations of EU borders.

Ukraine's Ministry of Infrastructure is negotiating with Poland, Moldova, and other neighbors to relocate border crossing points to their territory. The initiative is linked to systematic Russian shelling of border checkpoints that disrupts logistics.

AsMAP explained how strikes on border infrastructure affect queues, routes, and drivers' readiness. The main problems are the Moldovan and Polish borders; some procedures are being moved to the territory of Poland and Moldova.

SBSU spokesperson Andrei Demchenko said that all five crossings attacked by Russia are working, but during air alerts border control operations are suspended. The service links the queues at the Moldovan border with organized groups of Hasids.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that intensified Russian actions are expected in the coming weeks and months, and that the escalation is already approaching the Polish border. Warsaw is moving to a regime of heightened security measures.

Following a Russian strike on the locomotive of a passenger train in Volyn, Poland intends to reorganize traffic through border crossings with Ukraine to avoid the accumulation of trucks carrying fuel.

Oleksiy Pozniak, an expert at the Institute of Demography of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, stated that current statistics do not record a mass exodus of Ukrainians abroad against the backdrop of the escalation of shelling. According to his data, the most mobile citizens left the country in 2022, while the summer increase in border crossings is explained by seasonal vacation.

Oleksandr Poznyak, an expert at the NAS of Ukraine Institute of Demography, stated that the mass migration wave of 2022 has been exhausted and will not repeat, although local shelling and expectations of a harsh winter continue to shape individual decisions to leave.

The CCD stated that Russian strikes on border crossings with EU countries are 'a picture for the domestic consumer' with an exaggeration of the scale. The agency noted that the restoration of the crossings is proceeding promptly.