International Minister Zbigniew Rau has claimed Warsaw is being compelled to “pay the invoice twice” amid a row with Kiev over grain imports
Ukraine is benefiting from Poland’s goodwill and the nation’s residents have been compelled to foot the invoice, International Minister Zbigniew Rau has advised. The Polish prime diplomat’s remark got here amid an escalating row between Warsaw and Kiev over imports of low-cost Ukrainian grain into the EU nation.
In a chunk printed by Politico on Friday, Rau reminded everybody that his nation had opened the doorways to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees, whereas additionally serving as a key hub for Western weapons shipments. That they had additionally supplied Kiev with a substantial quantity of weapons out of Poland’s personal shares for the reason that begin of the Russian-Ukrainian battle final February. In accordance with the diplomat, “of all of the allies, Poles took upon themselves the heaviest burden when it got here to serving to Ukraine.”
Nonetheless, now the Polish persons are asking themselves why they’re being compelled to “pay the invoice for serving to Ukraine twice,” Rau wrote, referring to “unfair financial competitors” on the a part of Kiev.
The minister identified that his nation was flooded with Ukrainian grain after the principle maritime routes by way of the Black Sea had been closed off, however that “dishonest grain merchants” took benefit of “what was designed to facilitate an emergency transit route for Ukrainian grain” to Asian and African nations.
In accordance with Rau’s estimates, 600 occasions extra Ukrainian wheat was imported into Poland within the first 4 months of 2023, in comparison with the corresponding interval final 12 months, inflicting losses for Polish farmers.
The minister famous that each one main events in Poland help the federal government’s determination to impose a ban on imports of Ukrainian grain introduced final week. He added that Poles appeared “stunned” by accusations leveled at Warsaw by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, who has advised the neighboring nation is failing to point out sufficient solidarity.
Rau concluded by saying that solidarity ought to go each methods and claiming {that a} stronger Poland is in Ukraine’s personal finest curiosity.
The rift between the 2 nations noticed Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki declare on Wednesday that Warsaw was “now not transferring weapons to Ukraine.” The nation’s president, Andrzej Duda, later toned down the message, saying that Kiev can nonetheless depend on out of date weapons out of Polish shares.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky gave a speech on the UN by which he criticized some European nations for merely “enjoying out solidarity in a political theater” and “making a thriller from the grain.”
Kiev has lodged complaints with the World Commerce Group over Polish restrictions, in addition to these imposed on Ukrainian grain imports by Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia.
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