Ukraine is in talks with EU member states Poland and Slovakia about moving customs checks on lorries carrying grain exports from the border to inside those countries, to halt Russian drone attacks on the trucks, Reuters reported on Friday, citing a Financial Times report based on people familiar with the matter.

Ukraine's foreign ministry said Kyiv had already set up joint border control points with Moldova and wanted to “scale up” the initiative with other neighbours, including Poland, the FT reported.

Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told the FT the move was driven by a “new security environment where Russia is deliberately trying to strike our borders”, and that Kyiv wanted to finalise an agreement with Poland as soon as possible.

Why it matters beyond the border

Grain is one of Ukraine's biggest export earners, and its road and border crossings have become part of the battlefield as Russia's war grinds on. Moving the checks inland would let trucks clear formalities away from the exposed border line — but it would also put a piece of Ukraine's export machinery physically inside EU territory, a further sign of how deeply the war is pulling Kyiv's logistics into the bloc.

No agreement has been announced yet. The talks themselves, as reported, show Kyiv planning around a threat it expects to continue: drones hunting the slow queues of lorries that form at border crossings.