Polish farmers will not cease their grain blockade on the Ukrainian border, despite Warsaw’s designation of border crossings as “critical infrastructure” following concerns that the passage of military and humanitarian aid is being blocked.
Following reports of problems with allowing emergency transport across the border, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Thursday (22 February) announced on X that, in order “to ensure that military aid – equipment, ammunition, humanitarian aid, medical aid – will reach the Ukrainian side without any delays, we will include border crossings with Ukraine on the list of critical infrastructures”.
The government’s move, he said, would prevent delays and obstacles in the traffic.
However, Polish farmers will continue to protest against the increased flow of Ukrainian agri-food products into Poland by blocking the border with Ukrainian production.
The National Council of Agricultural Chamber (KRiR) on Thursday called on farmers to join a protest in Warsaw next Tuesday (27 February).
On the same day, the Rural Solidarity movement said in a statement that humanitarian and military aid had been “allowed through all blockades” and denied being aware of any incidents.
The “Oszukana Wieś” (Deceived Village) movement warned that the protest would continue anyway and encouraged farmers to continue blocking the borders.
In a post on X, the movement called Tusk’s decision “a mistake”, and encouraged protesters to gather at the border over the weekend.
On top of that, Polish farmers began blocking the border with Lithuania on Friday (23 February), claiming that some of the grain from Ukraine is sent to Lithuania and then transported to Poland as Lithuanian grain.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has recently called the protests an “erosion of solidarity” by Poland with Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression and said they were “about politics, not grain”.
He invited Polish leaders to meet him at their shared border on Saturday (24 February) to resolve a blockade by Polish farmers that he said was preventing the delivery of weapons to Ukrainian soldiers.
Tusk declined that offer, according to media reports, as a meeting between the two is already scheduled for the end of March.
[Edited by Angelo Di Mambro/Nathalie Weatherald]
Read more with Euractiv
