We were on the border with Ukraine. Appalling pictures. "We stink, we're starving..."

We, drivers, have started a collection mainly to help Polish truck drivers, we are counting on you, the entire amount will be distributed in the form of food parcels.

The situation is really critical. I am not ready to say how other industries are suffering, although according to the Federation of Employers of Ukraine, our economy has already suffered more than 400 million euros. We record the losses of our carriers on the basis of lost income - EUR 350 for a normal day - said Volodymyr Balin, vice-president of the Association of International Motor Carriers.

Ukrainians estimate that a day of strike by Polish carriers at Polish-Ukrainian checkpoints costs one company on average UAH 1 million (approx. PLN 111,000).

Protesters allow four cars to pass in both directions every hour. Vehicles carrying fresh food, humanitarian and military transports are allowed through on a regular basis. – Chickens, bananas and flowers go to Ukraine without waiting in line. We don't want to starve them, emphasizes one of the strikers who wants to remain anonymous. – I also cover my face because the protest will end and I will have to go to Ukraine again – he explains.

One of the Polish trucks waiting for departure in Ukraine was pelted with stones: headlights and windows were broken, batteries were stolen. Unknown perpetrators in Ukraine also set fire to a semi-trailer with Polish license plates. A wave of slop is being poured out on the strikers on the Ukrainian Internet. – The local services treat us like ATMs, and in Poland we are losing the market. How can we compete with Ukrainian companies when we have to pay the driver PLN 2,500? euro, and Ukrainian companies pay 700 euro? – asks another striking entrepreneur.

The drivers cope as best they can, helping each other. They have portable toilets provided by the commune. Volunteers will appear from time to time, bringing them water, bread and pâté. And that's where the help ends.

Truckers protest on the border with Ukraine. Polish drivers block because they lose their income

Already 25 km before the Dorohusk-Jagodzin border crossing, the first trucks are standing on the side of the road, waiting in line to leave Poland. There are about a thousand of them in total.

Protest of Polish carriers. The queue of trucks in front of Dorohusk is 25 km long

Some drivers wait just a dozen or so days to return to their home country. And they have nowhere to escape because most of the passages have been blocked.

- I've been standing here for over a week. I am now about 12 km to the border. That's another week of standing. Same guys. We take turns going to the station and buying 20 liters of fuel. To warm up because it's cold. Everyone is running out of money, food. There is no place to eat something warm, there is no place to wash. We stink, we starve. And we just want to go back to our country, says Oleg, one of the drivers who got stuck about halfway through the queue.

Ukrainian competition hit Eastern companies particularly hard. – Outgoing loads from Poland disappeared, which undermined the basis of our functioning – explains the entrepreneur.

Already 25 km before the Dorohusk-Jagodzin border crossing, the first trucks are standing on the side of the road, waiting in line to leave Poland. There are about a thousand of them in total.

Protest of Polish carriers. The queue of trucks in front of Dorohusk is 25 km long

Some drivers wait just a dozen or so days to return to their home country. And they have nowhere to escape because most of the passages have been blocked.

- I've been standing here for over a week. I am now about 12 km to the border. That's another week of standing. Same guys. We take turns going to the station and buying 20 liters of fuel. To warm up because it's cold. Everyone is running out of money, food. There is no place to eat something warm, there is no place to wash. We stink, we starve. And we just want to go back to our country, says Oleg, one of the drivers who got stuck about halfway through the queue.

Drivers thank drivers