Ukrainian Air Raids Slow Vehicle Border Crossings with Poland: Trucks Wait Over a Week

At the Ukrainian-Polish border, waiting times for freight transport have increased significantly. At some checkpoints, carriers are expecting six to ten days in the electronic queue. The situation is complicated by regular air raids, during which border crossings temporarily stop operations.

This is according to data from the state system "eCherha" as of the morning of October 21, 2026. The Volyn Customs also reported on the impact of air raids on vehicle passage.

The longest wait was recorded at the "Yahodyn - Dorohusk" checkpoint. For empty trucks weighing over 7.5 tons, the estimated time in the electronic queue was 10 days and 3 hours. A total of 2,113 vehicles were registered in this category.

For loaded trucks of the same weight category, the wait at this border crossing was 8 days and 19 hours. Some 1,436 vehicles were waiting. For vehicles carrying various types of goods according to the Ukrainian Classification of Goods for Foreign Economic Activity (UKTZED), the estimated wait was more than nine days.

A difficult situation was also observed at other Polish border crossings, according to an UNIAN correspondent:

• "Krakivets - Korczowa" - 1,417 trucks over 7.5 tons, estimated wait – 6 days and 19 hours;
• "Rava-Ruska - Hrebenne" - 1,180 trucks, wait – 7 days and almost 7 hours;
• "Shehyni - Medyka" - 474 trucks, wait – 7 days and 5 hours;
• "Uhryniv - Dołhobyczów" - 675 empty trucks over 7.5 tons, wait – almost 8 days.

At some checkpoints, other vehicle categories have significantly shorter estimated times. Therefore, the figures above do not mean that all trucks at the Polish border have to wait more than a week.

One reason for delays is frequent air raid alerts. According to the Volyn Customs, the operations of border checkpoints in the region had to be interrupted 61 times between October 20 and September 2019.

During those ten days, air raid alerts led to a total of nearly 53 hours of forced stops in customs processing. That’s equivalent to more than two days of downtime.

Due to interruptions at crossings, traffic also builds up on the Polish side. For example, at 7:30 PM on October 20, almost a thousand trucks carrying imported goods were waiting to enter Ukraine at the "Dorohusk - Yahodyn" checkpoint.

The Volyn Customs said that queues also formed on both sides of the "Ustyluh - Zosin" crossing. At the same time, movement slowed in the electronic queue for trucks leaving Ukraine.

According to data at 12:00 PM on October 21 from the Polish government’s border service, trucks leaving Poland through the Dorohusk crossing waited about 40 hours to clear customs. According to Poland’s State Border Guard Service data from October 21, the average wait time for trucks exiting Poland at Dorohusk was over 40 hours.

The customs office stressed that any pauses in the work of checkpoints are primarily related to the safety of staff and drivers. Shelters have been set up at the "Yahodyn" and "Ustyluh" border crossings to be used in an air raid warning.

Long waiting times become even harder. It is being planned by authorities to extended crossing hours and offer assistance to workers but none such results are reported. The eventual effect on pending environmental study could alter future renovations