Air alerts at the Polish border: why Yahodyn and Ustyluh close, and what to do in the queue

What happened

In recent days, the Yahodyn and Ustyluh checkpoints in Ukraine’s Volyn region, two crossings on the border with Poland, have been temporarily suspended because of the threat of attacks. Andrii Demchenko, spokesperson for the State Border Guard Service, said so during a television broadcast. At such moments the Polish side also stops processing traffic at the paired crossings of Dorohusk and Zosin.

“The Polish side also suspends border crossing operations when the Ukrainian side reports that, due to the threat of attacks or an air raid alert, Ukrainian checkpoints in a particular direction have been temporarily closed,” Demchenko explained.

Not only Poland

According to the spokesperson, the same happens on other parts of the border, including crossings into Romania and Moldova in the Chernivtsi, Vinnytsia and Odesa regions. There, too, processing is paused during air raid alerts, as happened the previous day.

What happens at the checkpoint

The procedure on the Ukrainian side is the same along the whole border: once processing is suspended, people are moved out of the checkpoint as quickly as possible to avoid crowds and reduce the risk of deaths or injuries if a strike occurs. The Polish side follows essentially the same approach, Demchenko said, and people who have already completed all formalities can be quickly received on the Polish side.

Advice for those waiting in line

Demchenko told Ukrinform that people who have not yet entered the checkpoint and are waiting in their vehicles must also disperse. No processing takes place during an air raid alert, so drivers are advised to move as far away from the border line as possible, because strikes on areas next to checkpoints cannot be ruled out.

In practice, anyone planning to cross via Volyn should allow extra time for possible pauses and keep an eye on air raid alerts.

Context: strikes near the border

The threat is real. On the night of September 13, a Russian attack in Volyn damaged a petrol station near the Yahodyn checkpoint, as well as a locomotive close to the Polish border. Ukrinform reports that the attack in this direction was made possible by Belarus once again switching on repeaters that help Russian drones penetrate deeper into Ukraine.

That same night, according to Polish border guards, more than 600 people, including the passengers of five buses, were evacuated from the Dorohusk and Hrebenne crossings. Between September 10 and 12, the Ukrainian side had repeatedly asked Poland to suspend processing on the Dorohusk–Yahodyn and Zosin–Ustyluh routes. After these incidents, Polish services drew up a procedure: during an alert, passenger buses are moved outside the checkpoint and staff go to shelters.

On September 24, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the crossings at Hrubieszów and Dorohusk had to be evacuated again because of a Russian attack near the border. “You can imagine the losses and the nerves this causes,” he said, as quoted by Polish Radio Lublin. According to ZAXID.NET, the checkpoints were closed for about half an hour before traffic resumed.

What next

Tusk urged Europe to prepare for difficult weeks and months ahead. For travellers, that means short stoppages at the border during alerts are likely to recur. The border guards’ main rule is simple: when an alert is declared, do not crowd near the checkpoint and move away from the border.