The president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky today invited Polish leadership and European Union officials to the Polish-Ukraine border for talks on ongoing blockades of roads and border crossings by Polish farmers, who are angrily protesting what they say is unfair competition from Kiev.
Ton tuesday the polish farmers organized a big day of mobilizations, erecting blockades along almost the entire length of the border with Ukraine, angering Kiev, in an escalation of earlier protests.
Warsaw has been a staunch supporter of Kiev in its fight to repel a full-scale Russian invasion beginning in 2022, but farmers' protests protesting unfair competition are straining relations between them.
“We had a big misunderstanding between us. We should not humiliate each other, we should not humiliate either the Ukrainians or the Polish peasants. We need unity. We need solutions, between us, Ukraine and Poland, and at the level of the whole of Europe,” Zelensky said in a statement.
For now, the offices of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Andrzej Duda have not commented on these statements.
Zelensky added that Ukraine will not accept the appearance of slogans in favor of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the demonstrations, as happened yesterday.
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Poland has announced that it is investigating the appearance of a pro-Putin banner bearing the slogan “Putin, sort out Ukraine, Brussels and our government,” near the Czech border.
Poland's foreign ministry said in a statement today that it is “watching with great concern the appearance of anti-Ukrainian slogans and slogans in favor of Vladimir Putin and his war during the recent agricultural blockades.”
“We believe it is an attempt by extreme and irresponsible groups to take control of the rural protest movement, possibly under the influence of Russian agents”.
Adrian Variniak, a spokesman for the Solidarity farmers union, said the banner was unacceptable and dismissed speculation that Russian agents may be trying to influence the protest movement.
He blamed the banner on an individual unrelated to the union.
Poland's Agriculture Minister Cieslaw Siekierski told reporters that the government invited farmers for talks on Monday, while farmers say the government should go to them.
Polish farmers blocked eight major roads today. Police say protests continue at border crossings to Ukraine in Mendika and Kortsova.
Source: News Beast
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