Serbian trucks "drive through" Ukrainian blockade

Serbian trucks "drive through" Ukrainian blockade

As they drove through the protest, the women - who, according to reports earlier this week, blocked them for being "Russian allies the Serbs"

- struck the vehicles' windows, smashed windshields, but in the end had to withdraw from the road.

According to a Večernje Novosti report, "fortunately, nobody was injured, and the trucks saw only minor damage."

Ivan Rošković, a driver for the NiM Šped company from Serbia, was taking a truck loaded with 20 tons of fresh fruit to St. Petersburg, and feared the produce might spoil while stranded at Ratno. He said that during this tour, he encountered another blockade on the Ukrainian side of the border with Romania, but that protesters there let ambulances and freezer trucks through.

According to him, "Ukrainians are indignant and nobody knows which road they might block next."

Meanwhile, representatives of the NiM Šped company told the daily they were surprised by the road block, and are now considering "alternative routes toward Russia" - that would go through Hungary, Slovakia and Poland, and raise costs.

They added it would be "fair" if Ukrainian authorities officially confirmed whether their borders are passable or not.

Serbian transport companies also expect more support in solving the problem and protecting their interests from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and our embassy in Kiev, despite the fact Ambassador Rade Bulatović said that this was "not the embassy's job."