Polish hauliers on Friday said they expected to resume a month-long blockade at the largest freight crossing point with Ukraine, as their Slovak counterparts announced the end of their protest.
Truckers from both countries are demanding the reintroduction of permits to enter the European Union for their Ukrainian competitors, which the 27-nation bloc had waived after Russia invaded Ukraine.
On Monday, local authorities in Dorohusk on the Poland-Ukraine border said they were withdrawing permission for protests at the checkpoint there -- one of four border crossings blocked since November by Polish truckers.
On Friday, the regional court in Lublin said the protest could go ahead after all, after the hauliers appealed against the Dorohusk authorities' decision.
"The court revoked the mayor's decision. We'll wait 24 hours and if the mayor doesn't appeal against the verdict, we'll return to the border on December 18," said Rafal Mekler, one of the protest leaders.
"We are in touch with the new Polish government" to try to resolve the dispute, he told AFP.
Ukraine relies heavily on road transport with EU member Poland for its exports and imports, particularly since the Russian invasion nearly two years ago.
Kyiv said earlier that the fallout from the border protest had been "catastrophic" and that Ukrainian drivers stuck at crossings were facing "dire" conditions.
Poland's new prime minister, Donald Tusk, on Tuesday promised to resolve the conflict and accused the previous government of having abandoned the protesting truckers.
Slovakia's lorry drivers' union UNAS, for its part, said on Friday its members had ended their blockade, which had begun just three days earlier.
"We have ended our protest following a request from the police," UNAS vice chairman Rastislav Curma told AFP.
© Agence France-Presse
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