The conflict over the grain trade is causing unrest between Poland and Ukraine. It is also election time in Poland. Prime Minister Morawiecki announces that the country wants to equip itself with modern weapons.
Poland no longer wants to supply weapons to neighboring Ukraine. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced this on the private television channel Polsat News on Wednesday, according to Polish news agency PAP. The background is the conflict between Poland and Ukraine over Ukrainian grain imports.
Instead of supplying weapons, Poland now wants to equip itself with the most modern weapons, Morawiecki said. Poland supports the victory over the “Russian barbarian”, but cannot agree with the destabilization of the Polish market through imports of Ukrainian cereals, the head of the Polish government said. However, the transit of Ukrainian goods will be maintained.
Ukraine’s security is not at risk
Morawiecki emphasized that Poland would not endanger Ukraine’s security. “Our center in Rzeszow, in consultation with the Americans and NATO, continues to play the same role as before and will continue to do so,” he said. The city of Rzeszow, in southeastern Poland, is an important center for Western arms deliveries to Ukraine.
Poland, a NATO and EU country, has been one of Ukraine’s biggest supporters and arms suppliers since the Russian attack on the country about a year and a half ago. Furthermore, Poland welcomed almost a million people displaced by the war in Ukraine. Recently, the conflict over grain imports from Ukraine has caused tension between the two neighboring countries and close allies.
Poland fears falling prices
Agricultural products are one of Ukraine’s most important sources of income. Because of the war against Russia, Ukraine is trying to export more goods overland rather than through the contested Black Sea. Poland and other Eastern European countries fear a drop in the price of agricultural products. The European Commission ended controversial trade restrictions on Ukrainian cereal products last Friday. However, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia continue to ban cereal imports. Ukraine therefore filed a complaint against the three countries at the World Trade Organization (WTO).
On Wednesday, Poland summoned the Ukrainian ambassador to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw to protest statements made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before the UN General Assembly. The Ukrainian president said the “political theater” surrounding grain imports from Ukraine only benefited Russia. (APA/Ag.)