No Ukrainian wants to cause problems for Polish farmers, says ambassador
The Ukrainian ambassador to Poland has told PAP that there is no one in Ukraine who wants to cause any problem for Polish farmers and emphasised the importance to Ukraine of a logistic hub in Rzeszow in south-eastern Poland.
"Our (military supply - PAP) hub in Rzeszow, in agreement with the Americans and Nato, is fulfilling the same role the whole time as it has fulfilled and will fulfil," Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Wednesday.
When asked if Poland planned to continue supporting Ukraine militarily, Morawiecki told a Polsat News private television programme on Wednesday that Poland was no longer sending weapons to Ukraine as it was now "purchasing the most modern weapons" for its own defence needs.
Ambassador Vasyl Zvarych, speaking to PAP on the sidelines of the Common Future Congress for the Reconstruction of Ukraine in Poznan, western Poland, on Thursday, said that the Ukrainian side had been in permanent contact with the Polish Foreign Ministry and that this cooperation "has been developing well."
Asked about the current condition of Polish-Ukrainian relations, the ambassador said that the two sides should be guided by good will and have a constructive approach to various situations.
The diplomat admitted that it was a normal thing that the two countries have different opinions on some issues but the point was to seek solutions for the good of the two states, the entire region and Europe.
The ambassador also said that Ukraine had already presented a very constructive plan of further steps regarding grain exports and declared that there was no Ukrainian who would be interested in creating any problem for Polish farmers.
We believe that the interests of Polish and Ukrainian farmers are important, and Ukraine is able to reach agreement in order to secure these interests, he said.
On Wednesday, the Polish Foreign Ministry summoned Ambassador Zvarych and warned that it might broaden an embargo on Ukrainian agri-products after President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to accuse Poland of helping Moscow by turning "solidarity into political theatre."
Relations between the two countries, which have become extremely close owing to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have become fraught recently over Poland's decision to extend an embargo, along with Slovakia and Bulgaria, on some Ukrainian agri-products in order to protect its farming sector.
On September 15, the European Commission said that an EU embargo on Ukrainian grain entering five member states - Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia - would not be extended as "the market distortions in the five frontline countries have disappeared."
Poland decided to extend the ban despite the EC's disagreement. Slovakia, Hungary and Romania also announced restrictions on Ukrainian grain imports.
In response to Poland's decision, Ukraine filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization on the grounds that individual EU countries could not impose a ban on Ukrainian goods.
