Queues lasting several hours have formed at the Polish-Ukrainian border due to regular Russian air strikes on the western regions of Ukraine. According to a report by Polskie Radio on 16 October 2026, the wait for customs clearance at the «Dorohusk–Yahodyn» border crossing reached 40 hours, at «Hrebenne–Rava-Ruska» it exceeded 24 hours, whilst at «Zosin–Ustyluh» it stood at around eight hours. Due to numerous air raid alerts, border services have been forced to temporarily suspend the processing of lorries, coaches and other vehicles.
At the «Dorohusk–Yagodin» border crossing, queues have reached 40 hours
Significant delays at the Ukrainian-Polish border arose as a result of repeated interruptions to the work of the border and customs services.
According to the Polish tax authorities in Lublin, the waiting time for customs clearance at the «Dorohusk–Yagodin» border crossing reached approximately 40 hours on 16 October.
A representative of the administration Michał Derus explained that the situation is linked to the Russians air strikes near the border crossings. According to him, the services received nine air-raid alerts in the space of just a few hours during the night. Further warnings were issued in the morning.
In total, there were more than ten security alerts during the night and this morning, mainly in the Dorohusk and Zosyna areas. Whenever a threat arises, border checks may be temporarily suspended to ensure the safety of staff and travellers.
Due to repeated hold-ups, traffic is building up and waiting times are increasing even after the border crossing points have resumed operations.
880 lorries were expected in Hrebennoye, and 250 in Zosyn
Long queues were also reported at other Polish-Ukrainian border crossings in the Lublin Voivodeship.
According to Polskie Radio, drivers were waiting for more than 24 hours to clear customs at the «Hrebenne–Rava-Ruska» border crossing. There were around 880 lorries in the queue.
At the «Zosin–Ustyluh» border crossing, the wait was approximately eight hours. The Polish authorities reported that there were 250 lorries.
Even under difficult conditions, border crossing points continue to allow vehicles through at times when the security situation permits the processing of formalities.
Over the past 24 hours, customs and tax authorities at border crossings in the Lublin Voivodeship processed more than 3,000 lorries and 3,700 passenger cars.
By the morning of 17 October, the waiting time at Dorohusk had risen to 50 hours
According to the latest information from the Polish government’s border traffic portal, as at 08:15 on 17 October, the situation at the «Dorohusk–Yagodin» border crossing remained difficult.
Updated data
Estimated time for processing lorries to begin:
Dorohusk – Yagodin, travelling from Poland to Ukraine, 17 October, 08:15.
There were around 1,100 lorries in the queue. This indicates a further build-up of traffic following the delays recorded the previous day.
At the same time, the waiting time depends on the category of vehicle, the direction of the border crossing and the current workload of the border authorities.
Important: The 40–50 hours apply primarily to goods vehicles. The situation may be significantly different for buses and passenger cars.
What you need to know before travelling to Poland
Drivers and passengers planning to cross the Ukrainian-Polish border in the near future are advised to check the situation at their specific border crossing point in advance. It is also worth noting that, from 27 June 2022, restrictions on the movement of private cars will be in place at the «Yagodin–Dorohusk» crossing. This crossing is used primarily for freight transport and scheduled coaches.
Therefore, reports of 40-hour queues in Dorohusk do not mean that car owners will have to wait that long.
For journeys by car, you may wish to consider other authorised border crossings, such as «Ustyluh – Zosin», «Ugryniv – Dolgobychiv» or «Rava-Ruska – Hrebenne».
At the same time, due to unpredictable Russian attacks, the time taken to cross the border may vary even within a matter of hours.
