The Polish–Ukrainian border first came to be, briefly, in the aftermath of the
Polish–Ukrainian War in 1919. The
Treaty of Warsaw, signed in April 1920, divided the disputed territories in Poland's favor along the
Zbruch River. A year after the treaty was signed, however, Ukraine lost its independence to the Soviet Union (
Ukrainian–Soviet War), and its remaining territories were split between Poland and the
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in the
Peace of Riga. During the
collectivization of Ukrainian farmland in the
first five-year plan and the
Holodomor (Great Ukrainian Famine), numerous
Soviet citizens of
Ukrainian and
Polish nationality fled across the border to Poland. Interviews of Soviet refugees by Polish border guards provided the first knowledge of the famine to the West. Poland also sent
agents provocateur across the border in order to encourage Ukrainians to revolt against Soviet rule, which was ineffective and only increased
Stalin's paranoia about rebellion and dissidence in the region. Following the signing of the
Ribbentrop-Molotov agreement and
invasion of Poland by the Soviet Union, vast territories in
eastern Poland were
annexed to the
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The new border was short-lived, as
Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in
Operation Barbarossa. The invasion of Ukraine began with the German
1st Panzer Army crossing the border and defeating the
Soviet 5th Army in the
Battle of Brody. In 1945, following the end of the war and the establishment of the
Polish People's Republic, a new border was formed between the Ukrainian SSR and Poland based on the
Yalta Agreement. As a result, Poland lost vast territories in Ukraine's favor, including the city of
Lviv. During the negotiations on the
Polish–Soviet border agreement of August 1945, alongside the Polish-Ukrainian section of the border, the Polish side proposal was categorically rejected. Due to this, the Polish side proposed more modest changes, namely to transfer the
railway junction in
Khyriv (Polish: Chyrów) to Poland, in which two parallel main lines of national importance were connected. At the same time,
Rava-Ruska was requested. In this town, located near the
Curzon Line, three Polish and one Ukrainian railway line converged. Polish requests were completely rejected, only managing to slightly shift the border to the east near
Przemyśl,
Korczowa and
Horyniec-Zdrój. The Soviets also agreed to let
Medyka be on the Polish side. The
Bieszczady County was also obtained, thanks to the efforts of
Stanisław Leszczycki during the negotiations, covering about 300 square km with
Halicz and
Tarnica peaks. The
dissolution of the Soviet Union into a number of
post-Soviet states transformed the Poland-Soviet border into the chain of
Poland-Russia,
Poland-Lithuania,
Poland-Belarus and Poland–Ukraine borders. Poland and Ukraine have confirmed the border on 18 May 1992. It is the longest of Polish eastern borders. The border became much more open compared to the Soviet times, when despite being part of the
Eastern Bloc, crossing was very difficult. As the border was opened to mass traffic, the number of people crossing the Polish-Ukrainian border begun rising steadily since 1990, stabilizing around 2000s. Approximately 3 million Ukrainians crossed the border in the 1990s, annually. One of the peak numbers was recorded in 2001, with about 12 million people crossing the border. It is one of four EU-Ukraine borders, the others being the
Hungary–Ukraine border,
Romania–Ukraine border and the
Slovakia–Ukraine border. As it is an entry point to the
Schengen Area, this introduced a
visa requirement for
Ukrainian citizens entering Poland as of October 2003. In the period October 2003-September 2004 Polish authorities issued about 620,000
visas to Ukrainians. This agreement introduced local border traffic permits, allowing holders to cross the border for up to 90 days per half-year. 2009 saw approximately 12 million border crossings on the Poland–Ukraine border. The agreement only allowed cross-border transports between Ukraine and EU, but protesters claim that Ukrainian drivers started taking cargoes inside EU, quickly pushing out local drivers from the market due to lower operational costs, as they are not subject to EU labour and environmental regulations. The protesters also quoted long 12-14 days wait times and extortion of bribes on the Ukrainian side of the border. The Polish truckers association ZMPD was joined by MKFE (Hungary), Cesmad Bohemia (Czechia), Cesmad Slovakia and Linava (Lithuania). On 19 November, about 3,000 mostly Ukrainian trucks were stuck at the Dorhusk-Yagodin, Korczowa-Krakovets and Hrebenne-Rava-Ruska border crossings, parked up to from the crossings. Waiting time for trucks to cross the border was about one week. On 27 November, the blockade was extended to the Medyka-Szeginie/Shehyni crossing. As of 4 December 2023, per Ukrainian e-Cherha system, there were over 22'000 trucks waiting for crossing back into EU on Ukrainian side. On the same day Ukrainian border force announced opening of new exit corridor for empty trucks returning to EU. On 11 December, some local authorities in Poland withdrew permission for the protests, but a few days later on the 15 December the
Lublin regional court revoked one of the decisions and the blockades resumed. One queue was reported as long. By February 2024, the blockade had expanded to all major crossings including railways, and protestors had spilt some grain onto the ground from train transport. On 27 February 2024, about 10,000 farmers marched in
Warsaw demanding a ban on food imports from Ukraine. ==Characteristics==