Ukrainian Official: Polish Protestors and Police Allegedly Detain Bus Passengers from Ukraine

Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for reconstruction, announced on social media that Polish protestors and police stopped a passenger bus from Ukraine and detained the passengers onboard.

Kubrakov made the announcement on X, formerly Twitter, and tagged the accounts of two Polish officials, the Polish National Security Bureau and the National Police of Poland.

However, he provided no details surrounding the incident.

Kyiv Post was unable to confirm the incident nor reach Kubrakov Monday evening for further information at press time.

“We emphasize that these actions are unacceptable in relation to Ukrainian citizens. During the war in Ukraine, the passengers of such buses are women with young children, socially vulnerable categories, military personnel returning or going to training, and people in transit.

“An attempt to make them hostages to a protest seems inappropriate for the civilized world,” Kubrakov wrote.

Paweł Krawczyk, a social media user, questioned Kubrakov about the alleged incident in the comments and said it could be diversions from “Russian trolls.” Krawczyk referenced a Telegram post from a Polish channel Sunday night where allegedly drunk Polish farmers were supposedly halting a passenger bus, though the visuals did not sustain any of the claims.

Kyiv Post is unable to determine if Kubrakov was referring to the alleged incident depicted.

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Kyiv Post also reached out to one bus carrier for clarification, who could not confirm the incident and said they were not facing the issue while crossing the border, though they did have to adjust their routes due to the ongoing protests.

“It’s a problem. When farmers start blocking the highways. Our drivers were forced to use regional roads,” said Petro Beluha, head of one of Ukraine’s bus carrier groups.

A Kyiv Post report on Feb. 21 covered a similar incident, where Polish farmers stopped a passenger bus and allegedly detained an Israeli citizen onboard, with verbal abuse in multiple languages audible in the background.

The farmers’ protest – which led to border blockades between Ukraine and Poland – started in November last year and escalated in February, where protestors said Ukrainian agricultural imports have been undercutting local prices, though it is likely that multiple factors are at play behind the current crisis.

A recent Kyiv Post Op-Ed covered the developments in detail.