The trade tension between Kiev and Warsaw comes less than a month after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Poland, praising relations between the two countries and thanking Warsaw for its “historic” help.
Ukrainian demonstration against Poland
On Saturday, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that it had submitted memos to Polish and European Union officials in Ukraine on Friday describing the restriction of Ukrainian grain imports to EU countries as “completely unacceptable”. .
“Such restrictions, whatever their justification, are incompatible with the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union and the principles and rules of the European single market,” the ministry added.
“There are full legal bases for the immediate resumption of exports of Ukrainian agricultural products to Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria, as well as the continuation of unhindered exports to other EU member states. EU,” the statement continued.
In the note delivered to the Polish Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine denounces the “unacceptable” trade restrictions imposed by Warsaw, one of its main allies in the face of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, on Ukrainian agricultural products.
Several countries bordering Ukraine, including its main ally Poland, have imposed temporary trade restrictions on the export of Ukrainian grain and other products through their land, after protests from local farmers over falling prices .
“A note on the unacceptable situation related to trade restrictions on imports of agricultural products from Ukraine” was sent to the Polish Embassy as well as to the EU representative in Ukraine, said Oleg Nikolenko, door -spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kiev.
On the other hand, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia agreed on Friday to an agreement with the European Commission which allows the transit of Ukrainian agricultural products.
Kiev called for an “immediate” resumption of exports and said the restrictions violated an association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union and “the principles and rules of the European Union’s single market”.
Tensions had escalated in Brussels earlier in the search for a comprehensive solution for the European Union to the grain crisis.
The tension arose after Warsaw and Budapest announced bans on some imports from Ukraine. Slovakia has joined Poland and Hungary in banning certain grain imports from Ukraine. Other Eastern European countries have announced that they are also considering taking action. Farmers say imports from Ukraine have lowered prices and reduced their sales. The measure came with the aim of protecting the local agricultural sector in these countries.
military alliance
Warsaw has presented itself as a staunch ally of Kiev, playing an important role in persuading other allies to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons, many of which transit through Poland. In early April, Polish President Andrzej Duda said his country would supply Ukraine with 14 MiG-29 fighter jets. “You have stood side by side with us and we appreciate that. I think this is a historic relationship, a historic result and a historic strength between our two countries.” Zelenskyy said during a visit to Warsaw that Poland would help form an alliance of Western powers to supply warplanes to Ukraine as it did battle tanks. The Ukrainian leader said in a speech in a square in Warsaw that Russia will not defeat Europe as Ukraine and Poland stand “side by side”.
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