In Poland, the compass of farmers’ anger points to the southeast. On Tuesday, at the Medyka border crossing, Polish farmers dumped Ukrainian wheat taken from two freight cars onto the rails. This action is in addition to the border blockade imposed by farmers, which is deepening the crisis between the two neighbors.
What actions did the Polish peasants take?
On February 9, Polish farmers began blocking various checkpoints on the border between Ukraine and Poland. The protests escalated two days later when farmers dumped Ukrainian grain destined for the European Union on the roads after stopping a truck crossing the border.
On Tuesday the situation became more complicated again: this time Polish farmers attacked a train. According to a Przemysl police spokesman, a group of demonstrators took to the railway tracks “for a few minutes.” Time used to dump “a small amount of grain onto the rails” of two Ukrainian freight cars.
Why are Polish farmers attacking Ukraine?
If they blocked about a hundred roads, preventing Ukrainian trucks from entering Poland, it was done in protest against the “unfair competition” allegedly carried out by their Ukrainian colleagues, who are not subject to European rules. Polish farmers, as demonstrated by French farmers, condemn the import of Ukrainian agri-food products, which they consider “uncontrolled”. They also demand a revision of European rules.
An example in Ryki, 100 km southeast of Warsaw. Among the dozens of tractors blocking the S17 expressway leading to Lublin and the Ukrainian border is Tomas Holak’s tractor. “I am here so that we abandon the restrictions imposed by the European Union on steam and the Green Deal, and, above all, so that this Ukrainian product stops coming,” this owner told AFP, “about fifteen hectares .
Consequences for the war?
Vladimir Zelensky linked these blockades with the Russian invasion. The situation on the border with Poland cannot be considered normal or ordinary, the Ukrainian president said on Monday. This, he said, illustrates the “erosion of everyday solidarity.” If Poland has been among Kyiv’s most loyal supporters since the beginning of the war, then “this is not a question of grain, but rather of politics,” Zelensky believes, assuring that only 5% of the countries exporting his agricultural products have crossed the Polish border. .
Ukraine’s infrastructure minister on Monday identified six border crossings blocked on the Polish side. “A direct threat to the security of a country forced to defend itself,” whistled Alexander Kubrakov on Facebook. “They block everything. Some trucks carry fuel. A few days ago, demonstrators blocked the passage of several trucks with weapons,” he further stated on public television. According to a Polish official, 600 trucks were waiting to cross the border into Ukraine on Monday at the Dorohusk border crossing.
The Ukrainian agricultural sector has been crippled by the Russian invasion: the war has blocked many export facilities across the Black Sea, rendering the land unusable. Thus, road connections with Poland were crucial for Ukrainian companies to continue exporting. But the situation has angered Polish farmers and transporters, who complain that Ukrainian prices they cannot compete with.
What is the reaction of the authorities?
After the first grain spill, the Polish Minister of Agriculture behaved with restraint. “On behalf of Polish farmers, I apologize for such an act of despair and ask for understanding of their extremely difficult situation,” Czeslaw Sekierski said in a statement released on February 12. Polish prosecutors announced they had “opened an investigation” into violations of customs security and destruction of property, offenses punishable by a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
The incident caused a wave of outrage in Ukraine. This week a new wave of discontent has poured in. Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Alexander Kubrakov called the grain incident “a political provocation aimed at splitting our peoples.” “For two years now, Ukrainian farmers have been collecting grain wearing bulletproof vests, under rocket fire and the threat of mines,” he wrote on X.
But tensions have persisted for months. Polish truckers installed a similar blockade from November to early 2024.
In mid-February, Volodymyr Zelensky asked his government to “urgently negotiate” an end to the agricultural crisis with Poland’s new liberal government in order to “preserve good neighborly relations” as the two countries have a “common enemy in Moscow.” . Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, called for a compromise.
Source: Le Parisien
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