2024-02-21 00:12:50
Farmers from Poland blocked the railway line leading to the border point with Ukraine – Medica, and opened Ukrainian freight cars carrying grain, in protest against the import of cheap agricultural products, DPA reported.
A social media video broadcast on Ukrainian public television showed farmers unloading corn from several freight cars from Ukraine while singing the Polish national anthem. Police cordoned off part of the area and called on demonstrators to clear the tracks.
Ukrainian Railways confirmed the incident. The two open wagons with grain were traveling to Germany.
In total, there were about 40 Ukrainian wagons carrying agricultural goods at the border crossing. The Polish railway operator and the Ukrainian embassy in Poland were informed “of an unauthorized interference in the work of the railway”.
The action is part of the national farmers’ protests in Poland. They are directed against the agricultural policy of the EU, but also against the import of cheap agricultural products from Ukraine.
“We, the farmers from all over Poland, were the first to extend a friendly hand and say welcome to our brothers from Ukraine. And now we are being harmed by them,” said Roman Kondrov from the “Deceived Village” initiative to RMF FM radio.
Polish farmers complain that the EU’s Green Deal imposes new conditions on them, while grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine, which are produced cheaper without being subject to the same conditions, are allowed on the market, BTA reported.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kyiv called on Warsaw to end the blockades and take action against “anti-Ukrainian rhetoric”.