According to President Zelensky, the blockades by Polish farmers on the Ukrainian border are also endangering urgently needed arms deliveries. Warsaw speaks of signs of Russian infiltration of the protests.
After days of protests by Polish farmers, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky now wants to send Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and other cabinet members to the blocked border crossings for negotiations. This applies especially to Defense Minister Rustem Umjerov, said Zelensky in a video address published in Ukrainian and Polish. This should happen before the second anniversary of the war on Saturday. “Unfortunately, this blockade at the border endangers the supply of weapons to our boys at the front,” he said.
“Pro-Putin slogans” fuel concern
Zelensky also addressed Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda and EU representatives. You should also go to the border and support the dialogue. It’s about Ukraine’s national security, said Zelensky. He is also ready to drive to the border himself.
“Only Moscow” is happy about the tensions between the two countries. Zelenskyj denounced, among other things, “pro-Putin slogans” at the protests. The Foreign Ministry in Warsaw had previously warned against targeted influence on farmers by Moscow. Extremist groups probably tried to take over the farmers’ protest movement.
The banner on a tractor in Gorzyczki, Poland reads: “Putin, fix Ukraine, Brussels and our government.”
Investigations into incitement to hatred
On Tuesday, a banner was displayed in the southern Polish town of Gorzyczki that read: “Putin, fix Ukraine, Brussels and our government.” The public prosecutor’s office is now investigating the farmer for “propaganda for fascism, communism or another authoritarian form of rule” and incitement to hatred. Public promotion of a totalitarian system is punishable by up to three years in prison under Polish law.
“In our assessment, the anti-Ukrainian slogans that emerged during the recent peasant blockades are an attempt to take over the movement by outside groups that may be influenced by Russian intelligence,” the Foreign Ministry said in Warsaw.
Poland’s farmers against cheap Ukrainian imports
For days, Polish farmers have been trying to block trucks carrying Ukrainian grain at the Polish-Ukrainian border. Several thousand trucks are said to be piled up at the border crossings. The dissatisfaction of Polish farmers is directed against the EU agricultural policy, but also against the import of cheap agricultural products from Ukraine. On Tuesday, buses and freight trains from Ukraine were also the target of the protests for the first time.
Despite sea transport being possible again, the routes via Poland remain vital for Ukraine, which is being attacked by Russia – also for the already slow supply of weapons and ammunition. Poland is one of Ukraine’s most important supporters in the war that has been going on for almost two years. But the dispute over grain imports has been straining Polish-Ukrainian relations for months.