Polish farmers continue to upgrade.
This past weekend, Polish farmers poured 160 tons of Ukrainian grain out of train cars. At the Dorohusk border checkpoint alone, 5 tons of soybeans were dumped.
Dumping food on the railway, it's not easy to pick it up, no matter how much trouble you make, it's always wrong to waste food, especially since food is one of the few things that Ukraine can exchange for money during the war.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Kubrakov shouted to Poland that he hoped they would investigate and take action as soon as possible, this is not like an ordinary ** activity, but more like a premeditated sabotage, Ukraine can survive thanks to food, and it is absolutely not allowed to be wasted like this.
The Polish side also knows that it is at a loss, and the Minister of Agriculture responded in an interview that the ** form of sprinkling grain is not worth advocating, and the relevant details are being further investigated, but the Ukrainian side's reaction is too much.
Since the beginning of this year, the activities of Polish farmers have not stopped, and they have been escalating since February. They blocked roads and checkpoints on the border between the two countries to prevent Ukrainian grain trucks from passing. At present, most of the western border of Ukraine is blocked, and about 3,000 trucks are stuck on the road and cannot move forward.
The trumpets are blown, Polish farmers are quite good at playing, as we all know, after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the EU canceled import quotas and tariffs on Ukrainian agricultural products, which makes Ukrainian agricultural products have obvious advantages when entering the EU market.
The EU itself is not short of food, and this is not done to help Ukraine clear its stocks, but to facilitate the delivery of grain by Ukraine through EU countries to other regions that are really short of food, such as Africa.
The idea is good, but when it comes to actual implementation, the first step goes wrong. Due to geographical proximity and Ukraine's lack of sufficient transportation capacity, these grains often do not reach southern Europe and Africa, but instead accumulate in Central and Eastern European countries and are dumped on the spot, resulting in a run on the local agricultural market.
In order to appease the sentiments of their own farmers, the Central and Eastern European countries led by Poland had to take protectionist measures, such as unilaterally suspending the import of Ukrainian agricultural products, but they were criticized by the European Union, believing that this move was not conducive to European unity, and finally the EU only offered tens of millions of euros in agricultural compensation to express its support for Central and Eastern European farmers.
This picture looks like a Ukrainian flag Obviously, for farmers in Poland and other countries, this money is tantamount to a drop in the bucket, not only failed to solve the problem, but aroused greater anger among farmers, so they will resort to such means as blockade ** to force the Ukrainian authorities and the EU to make a compromise.
Last week, Ukrainian Prime Minister Shmygal led a group of ** including the Minister of Agriculture to the border between the two countries to negotiate in person, but the Polish leader did not attend.
When asked why, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that the current problem cannot be solved by the leaders of the two countries meeting in person, and there is really no need for a meeting. What's more, the request for a meeting was originally unilaterally made by Ukraine, and they came before they agreed to the other side.
Shmygal, who was dove", apparently did not listen to this explanation, and said that the dispute at the border should be resolved sooner, otherwise, Ukraine will reserve the right to retaliate against it.
went with a large group of juniors, but the other party did not come at all, and Zelensky believes that the problem is not food, but politics. The implication is that the ** activity of the Polish peasants was more like a political tool. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba also said that "traces of Russia" can be seen in this matter.
I don't know where he saw it, but what is certain is that if the situation is allowed to deteriorate, it will not only affect the farmers of the two countries, but the unity of the entire European Union, which is likely to become a major geopolitical event.
You must know that the newly appointed Polish Prime Minister Tusk was originally regarded by the former ruling party "Law and Justice Party" as having close ties with Russia, and the former Polish ** Lech Kaczynski from the party died in a plane crash many years ago, and his twin brother, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, chairman of the "Law and Justice Party" party, has always believed that the death of his younger brother was planned by Russia and then Polish Prime Minister Tusk.
Zelensky: There is only one truth, taking this into account, it is not excluded that Polish far-right politicians will be involved in this agricultural ***. In addition to personal grievances, the peasants are also an important vote base, and the far right is likely to use the grievances of the peasants to win votes. For example, in the ranks of the German peasants, there are many logos and banners about the far-right AfD.
But in any case, the dissatisfaction of the Polish peasants is real, and the dispute on the Polish-Ukrainian border can only be truly resolved if their interests are satisfied.
It's just that at the moment, it is difficult to find a way to do both, and the Polish peasants and the Ukrainian peasants will always have to make sacrifices. This is not just a matter between two countries, the real decision-making power is in the hands of the EU, and if the EU keeps being in thin mud, it will only continue to lose both.