After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Serbian drivers of heavy goods vehicles on the Ukrainian border with Romania had to wait for several days as Ukrainian forces did not allow them to leave. Thanks to diplomatic mediation between Serbia and Ukraine, trucks entered Romania. Nevertheless, the Serbian Chamber of Commerce warned carriers about the financial unpredictability and security risks of operating in countries part of the conflict. According to the Serbian Road Transport Association, drivers ran out of food and money. Trucks stuck at the border mainly were returning from the Russian Federation and transporting Russian and Belarusian goods destined for Serbia. Therefore, the border forces did not release them. This position ended when diplomatic mediation between Serbia and Ukraine allowed freight to flow back to Romania. At the same time, the Serbian Chamber of Commerce has launched measures to alleviate the problems of Serbian carriers supplying the Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian markets, as it has become almost impossible to pay for services or deliver goods in recent days, Slobodna Evropa reports. Miroslav Nikolić, head of the road freight transport department of the SCC, also points out that freight transport to Ukraine, Russia and Belarus is currently very complex, as although traffic to Poland is continuous, the route to Russia is via Belarus, and there are huge waiting lists. The Serbian Road Freight Association and the Chamber of Commerce have warned carriers not to send heavy goods vehicles to Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. He adds that cooperation with banks is complicated, of course, by receiving payments for the service, and the sharp fall in the value of the Russian ruble is also very problematic.

_{Source: Ukraine invasion impacts Serbian hauliers’ transports to Russia}

_{Photo credits @ Twitter/@DPSU_ua}