Polish and Ukrainian soldiers on a Leopard 2 tank during training at the Swietoszow military base, western Poland, February 13, 2023. WOJTEK RADWANSKI / AFP
Poland announced on Wednesday evening, September 20, that it was no longer supplying weapons to Kiev. This statement highlights the rising tensions between the two allies at a crucial moment in Ukraine’s response to the Russian invasion. “We are no longer transferring weapons to Ukraine,” said Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on the private television channel Polsat News.
“We are mainly focusing on modernizing and rapidly arming the Polish army so that it becomes one of the most powerful land armies in Europe in the shortest possible time,” he said. He added that the military center in the southeastern city of Rzeszow, through which Western equipment for Ukraine is transported, was functioning normally.
However, the prime minister did not provide any information about when Poland, one of the largest arms suppliers to Ukraine, stopped supplying weapons or whether this was related to the conflict over Ukrainian grain, the imports of which Warsaw banned to protect the interests of its farmers.
A “false thesis”
His announcement comes hours after the Ukrainian ambassador was summoned to Warsaw in an “emergency” manner to protest at the United Nations (UN) against President Volodymyr Zelensky’s comments. On Tuesday, the Ukrainian president criticized that “some countries are feigning solidarity.” [avec l’Ukraine] through indirect support from Russia. The Polish Deputy Foreign Minister, who received the Ukrainian diplomat, condemned this “false thesis” and “particularly unjustified in relation to Poland, which has supported Ukraine since the first days of the war.”
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Brussels’ announcement on Friday that it would lift the end of the import ban on Ukrainian grain imposed by five European Union states in May heated up tempers and provoked unilateral embargoes, to which Kiev responded on Monday by announcing that it would first submit a complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO ).
In response, the Polish prime minister warned on Wednesday that he would expand the list of Ukrainian products banned from import. “Pressuring Poland in multilateral forums or sending complaints to international courts are not appropriate methods for resolving disputes between our countries,” Polish diplomacy warned in a press release.
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“Unfortunate tensions”
“We appeal to our Polish friends to put their emotions aside,” Ukrainian diplomatic spokesman Oleg Nikolenko reacted after Warsaw announced the summons of the Ukrainian ambassador. Mr. Nikolenko condemned “the unacceptable nature of Poland’s unilateral ban on imports of Ukrainian grain to Ukraine,” adding that “the Ukrainian side has offered Poland a constructive solution to the grain problem.”
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He also regretted “the incorrectness” of Polish President Andrzej Duda’s comments at a meeting with the media in New York. In particular, Mr. Duda compared Ukraine to a drowning man who runs the risk of being dragged to the bottom and also drowning the one who wants to save him – Poland.
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France complained on Wednesday about the tensions between the two countries. “These tensions are regrettable,” Catherine Colonna, the French foreign minister, said in an interview with Agence France-Presse, seeing them as a reflection of “domestic political considerations.” The head of French diplomacy, speaking after an extraordinary Security Council on the occasion of Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the United Nations, stressed that Brussels’ decision to lift the ban on imports of Ukrainian grain did not lead to a “disruption of competition.” or disruption of grain markets.