As Ukraine struggles with fickle allies, Vladimir Putin is on a roll

Eternally long lines of stalled transport trucks at Ukraine's border with Poland may be an apt metaphor for broader frustrations and challenges facing the war-weary nation as 2023 winds down.

A blockade by Polish truckers is just one in a series of cascading issues that have combined to thwart Ukraine's ability to support its military and resist Russia's almost two-year-old invasion.

"Increasingly, domestic politics [among] Ukraine's allies is interfering with Ukraine's security," said Orysia Lutsevych, an analyst with Chatham House in London who has paid special attention to the war in Ukraine.

In the United States, more than $60 billion US worth of military aid is stalled by Senate Republicans. Another huge financial package worth more than $53 billion from the European Union may be boycotted by Hungary's Russia-friendly government, and even when nations agree on what assistance Ukraine needs, getting it there quickly can still be a big problem.

For more than a month, a blockade by Polish truckers, as well as a few in Slovakia, has created immense backlogs in moving humanitarian and commercial supplies into Ukraine.

The Polish truckers — who number only a few dozen — have blocked three of the main crossing points between Ukraine and Poland to protest the loss of business because of a flood of Ukrainian truck drivers who are now competing on the main trans-border routes.

"The Russians are the obvious enemies, but this meanness is coming from a friend," said Ukrainian trucker Roman Kaledin, who spoke with CBC News after finally completing his 1,300-kilometre run from central Poland to Kharkiv, a city in Eastern Ukraine.

He said he was forced to wait on the side of the road at a border crossing for an astounding 16 days before the Polish truckers let him through.

"They [the Poles] didn't care," said Kaledin. "Medicines, medical equipment, humanitarian aid, fuel, baby food — it was all waiting in line."

The Ukrainian truck drivers have made do by converting their rigs into temporary homes as they inch forward over the hours and days. Kaledin showed CBC News the propane stove in his cab he used to cook hot meals while he waited.

With Ukrainian airports closed, shipping through ports reduced and rail movements at capacity, trucking has become one of the country's main lifelines.

The protesters want an old, pre-war permit system restored so that the number of Ukrainian trucks is limited. But so far, negotiations between Ukraine, Poland and the European Union have been unable to resolve the impasse.

"It's extremely difficult for us to understand how a small group of people with their private interests can so much influence the situation in Ukraine," said Serhiy Derkach, Ukraine's deputy minister for communities, territories and infrastructure.

Derkach told CBC News that while inbound military cargo, such as weapons and ammunition, can bypass the blockade, outbound trucks are still delayed. That creates a ripple effect that can delay successive shipments.