Kiev  - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Friday demanded Poland's government act to reduce massive lorry queues on their border, the Interfax news agency reported.

Yushchenko, in a message to Poland's Foreign Ministry, called the current waits of more than 24 hours for lorry drivers attempting to enter Poland due to customs formalities "unacceptable."

Ukraine's border police will monitor the situation and will report to the president "personally," according to the report.

Queues at heavily-trafficked crossing sites such as along the Warsaw-Kiev highway often extend two or more kilometres, according to Ukrainian television reports.

Frequent vehicle searches, and the small number of Polish customs staff, are the main cause of the delays, Ukraine's 1+1 television said.

Lorry traffic jams on the Polish-Ukrainian border during the summer of 2007 caused difficulties in Ukrainian frontier, as lorry drivers ran out of food and water, while waiting for inspections.

Polish officials at the time said they were processing the Ukrainian vehicles as quickly as possible, but were not capable of handling large volumes of lorries each needing detailed inspections as per EU rules. (dpa)