Poland – Ukraine

Poland’s foreign ministry summoned the Ukrainian ambassador on Wednesday and strongly protested against a speech made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the UN General Assembly. Zelenskiy claimed that Poland is pretending to show solidarity with Ukraine, but indirectly supports Russia. “[Deputy Foreign Minister Paweł Jabłoński] conveyed to the Ukrainian side the serious protest against President Zelenskyy’s statement at the UN General Assembly,” the Polish Foreign Ministry said.
     The background is that Poland, together with Hungary and Slovakia, and outside the European Commission, will not lift an earlier ban on imports of Ukrainian grain. Ukraine is dependent on land transport of grain after Russia lifted an agreement on safe export corridors in the Black Sea. Speaking at the United Nations on Tuesday, Zelenskiy said the Ukrainian government was “working hard to preserve overland routes for grain exports”. But that the “political theatre” around grain exports only helps Russia.
     Poland, Hungary and Slovakia announced Friday that they will maintain restrictions on imports of Ukrainian grain to protect their own farmers and markets. But just before that, the European Commission had given up on extending an earlier ban on imports of Ukrainian grain. In his speech at the United Nations, Zelenskiy did not mention Poland, Hungary and Slovakia by name.  /ritzau/