Kyiv is open to trade restrictions with the EU to defuse tensions with Warsaw but urges bloc-wide import bans on Russian grain, Ukraine's Deputy Economy Minister and Trade Representative Taras Kachka told the Financial Times (FT) in a comment published on March 6.
Polish farmers, agrarian workers, foresters, and hunters staged a general strike in Warsaw on March 6 in protest against Ukrainian agricultural imports and EU environmental policies.
Poland plans to ask the EU to impose sanctions on Russian and Belarusian agricultural products and foodstuffs, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on March 4.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal pointed out that economically, the ongoing trade disputes and border blockade cost Poland more than Ukraine. Only 5% of Ukrainian agricultural exports are transported by road, with 90% being shipped out via maritime routes, he noted.
Ukraine plans to export a record 13 gigawatt hours of electricity to other countries on March 4, namely to Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Moldova, Ukrenergo, Ukraine's state-owned energy operator, announced.
Warsaw is conducting informal negotiations with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on granting Polish farmers possible exemptions to the EU's Green Deal, Poland's Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna said on March 3.
Six Ukrainian citizens were injured after a car drove into a crowd of pedestrians on March 1 in Szczecin, Poland, Ukrinform reported.
All six checkpoints at the Ukrainian-Polish border remain blocked due to the ongoing Polish farmers’ protests, State Border Guard spokesperson Andrii Demchenko said on March 3 on national television.
Polish farmers have completely blocked the Medyka-Shehyni border crossing around 1 p.m. on March 1, State Border Guard spokesperson Andrii Demchenko said on national television.
While agricultural trade with Russia or Belarus is not prohibited or sanctioned in the EU, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk recently said that Warsaw would consider banning food imports from Russia, following Latvia's example.
Poland will consider banning food imports from Russia after it "analyzes" the results of Latvia's decision to do so, Bloomberg reported on Feb. 29, citing Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Taras Kachka, Ukraine's deputy economy minister who takes part in talks with Poland on the border blockade and trade disputes, said on Feb. 28 that the border's closure was not mentioned during the talks.
Poland leads talks with Ukraine on the temporary closure of their mutual border for trade, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Feb. 28, stressing that such a solution would be "painful for both parties," RMF24 reported.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in Warsaw on Feb. 27 to join the Polish farmers' protest against Ukrainian agricultural imports and EU environmental policies.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, as well as leaders of Germany, the U.K., and other European NATO member states, have reportedly said they are not considering deploying their troops to Ukraine after French President Emmanuel Macron suggested the possibility of Western military presence in the country.
Sikorski urged the United States to provide Ukraine with desperately needed military aid in a speech delivered at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 26. .
Starting early next month, carriers from Poland's Lublin and Podkarpackie regions want to relaunch their protests at the Hrebenne-Rava-Ruska, Dorohusk-Yahodyn, and Krakovets-Korczowa crossings and possibly also at the Medyka-Shehyni checkpoint, RMF24 reported.
The crops, en route to the port of Gdansk and then to other countries, were dumped at a Polish railway station near Bydgoszcz, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Feb. 25.
The Ukrainian government has developed and proposed a five-point plan to Poland to solve the ongoing blockade led by Polish farmers, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Feb. 23 after visiting the border and speaking to Ukrainian truckers.
Grain has been dumped from Ukrainian trains at the Polish border on at least two other occasions earlier in February, sparking condemnations in Ukraine.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk rejected President Volodymyr Zelensky's proposal to meet at the border of their countries to solve the ongoing blockade led by Polish farmers on Feb. 22, as he said a meeting between the two governments is already planned in March in Warsaw.
The 47% of Polish respondents who said that a Russian attack on Poland was probable represented a 16% increase from when a similar poll was conducted in May 2023.
The Polish government, including Prime Minister Donald Tusk, should come to the border with Ukraine to meet its Ukrainian counterparts and solve the ongoing blockade led by Polish farmers, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video message on Feb. 21.
President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed the ongoing border blockade of Polish farmers with Ukrainian officials on Feb. 21 and said Kyiv would take the next steps "very quickly." He didn't specify what these steps would entail.
Polish Consul General in Lviv Eliza Dzwonkiewicz said that her criticism is not aimed against the farmers' demands but against the form of the protest.
The share of Ukrainians who perceive Poland as "a friendly country" has decreased from 94% to 79% since June last year, according to a poll by the Sociological Group Rating published on Feb. 21.
Kyiv and Warsaw are negotiating a solution to the ongoing border blockade by Polish farmers, as there is no free movement of trucks at any crossing, Ukraine's Deputy Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyi said on air on Feb. 21.
Polish President Andrzej Duda signed the act on the protection of Ukrainian refugees, extending the legality of their stay from March 4 until June 30, Poland's Presidential Office said on Feb. 20.
Polish Agriculture Deputy Minister Michal Kolodziejczak said that Polish Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Siekierski would hold talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Mykola Solskyi in the morning on Feb. 21 to discuss exports to Poland and see if an agreement can be reached.
"If we decide not to let buses in, it will be very bad. But perhaps then our authorities will finally look for substantive solutions," said Roman Kondrow, the leader of an organization of Polish farmers involved in the protest.
According to the Infrastructure Ministry, the protesters spilled about four metric tons of grain from two grain freight cars waiting to be reloaded onto the narrow gauge. These agricultural products were in transit to Germany.
Ukrainian carriers on Feb. 20 began demonstrations at the Hrebenne-Rava-Ruska, Medyka-Shehyni, and Krakivets-Korczowa crossings at the Polish border, calling for the end of the blockade by Polish farmers, Suspilne reported.
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