Exporting companies should use alternative routes until the end of negotiations between Ukraine and Poland on crossing the Ukrainian-Polish border on March 28, after which the situation is likely to improve, Deputy Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine Yuriy Vaskov has said.

"The market players – registrars, exporters, importers – are forced to use alternative routes [for exporting good]. Our position [of the Restoration Ministry] is that until the problem is solved, we need to look for alternative routes," he said at a roundtable discussion on the foreign trade challenges faced by Ukraine, organized by the Center for Economic Strategy on Thursday.

Vaskov emphasized that the ministry's current priority is to develop infrastructure on all alternative routes, even if they are not in demand now, since the current experience of constant changes during wartime teaches Ukraine to be prudent.

"Ukraine must be ready for anything. The market will not wait for improvements for several weeks. Unfortunately, we need to look for and use [alternative export routes," the official said.

He also noted that the border is open for Polish railway transport as before. At the same time, problems persist at motor transport checkpoints.

Vaskov recalled that a Ukrainian-Polish meeting is scheduled for March 28 to resolve the problems on the Ukrainian-Polish border. The Ukrainian side intends to propose an algorithm for solving existing problems and expects positive results from these negotiations, even though they will not be easy. The Reconstruction Ministry hopes there will be an improvement.