Ukraine has referred to as on Poland to punish these chargeable for destroying 160 tonnes of Ukrainian grain in an assault at a Polish railway station.
Kyiv despatched a observe to Warsaw demanding that the Polish authorities discover and punish the responsible, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov mentioned on X on Monday.
The official mentioned the destruction of the grain on the railway station amid protests was an act of “impunity and irresponsibility”.
“Those who have damaged Ukrainian grain must be found, neutralized, and punished. Two friendly civilized European states are interested in this,” Kubrakov wrote.
Earlier, the official had reported that 160 tonnes of grain, en path to different nations by way of the port of Gdansk, had been dumped on the railway station close to Bydgoszcz, in jap Poland. It was reportedly the fourth occasion of Ukrainian grain being spilled by protesting Polish farmers in latest weeks.
Those who’ve broken Ukrainian grain should be discovered, neutralized, and punished. Two pleasant civilized European states have an interest on this. Such deliberate demonstration movies and feedback have similarities with the russian hybrid struggle.
The @minfrastucture and the @UKRinPL… pic.twitter.com/O0corRKY2T
— Oleksandr Kubrakov (@OlKubrakov) February 26, 2024
Polish farmers have been on the forefront of the widespread protests by European farmers over latest weeks. However, they’ve been protesting towards “unfair competition” from Ukraine for over a yr.
The European Union suspended import duties, quotas and commerce defence measures for imports from Ukraine in June 2022, after Russia’s struggle closed down most of the nation’s ordinary grain export routes. However, the circulate of low cost grain from the east shortly sparked protests by farmers and truckers in neighbouring nations.
Encouraged by the previous nationalist authorities, which dominated till final yr, Poland’s farmers and truckers have blocked border crossings and motorways.
Like friends throughout Europe, the brand new authorities in Warsaw has been cautious of confronting farmers, apparently eyeing vital public help and the chance {that a} sturdy response to the protests might show a boon for the far proper at European Parliament elections in June.
On Friday, a Ukrainian authorities delegation visited the border with Poland to debate the protests.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal mentioned Kyiv had developed a five-step plan “of mutual understanding” to discover a compromise for each nations.
“The blockade hits the entire Polish-Ukrainian trade and the economy of our countries. Not only Ukraine is losing from it, but Polish entrepreneurs who export goods worth $12bn annually to our market are losing from it.”
The plan outlines Ukraine’s settlement with a European Commission proposal to limit poultry, eggs and sugar exports, together with an attraction to the EU to ban Russian agrarian exports.
He added that Kyiv can also be prepared to use a verification mechanism to grain, corn, sunflower and rapeseed exports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned on Sunday that it was necessary for Kyiv to take care of shut relations with Poland. Still, he added that his nation is able to defend companies that had been harm by the border blockades.
Ukrainian border service spokesperson Andriy Demchenko mentioned on tv, “Unfortunately, the blockage continues.”
“In total, 2,200 lorries are queueing on Polish territory and [Polish] farmers are letting several vehicles through per hour in both directions. More blocked are those lorries coming from Ukraine,” he mentioned.
Burning tyres
Beyond Poland, farmers from throughout Europe, together with France, Germany and Belgium, have been blocking roads and protesting towards international competitors, in addition to environmental laws, raised prices, and low costs for produce.
Ukraine has mentioned blockades on its grain exports have triggered extreme financial losses and affected its struggle effort.
On Monday, tractors surrounded the EU’s headquarters in Brussels as ministers met to hunt methods to streamline farming guidelines and pink tape fuelling the protests across the bloc.
Farmers burned tyres and set off fireworks on the street. Police used water cannon to douse the flames because the ministers mentioned concessions.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/26/ukraine-calls-on-poland-to-punish-those-responsible-for-grain-spill?traffic_source=rss
