​A working group led by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal arrived at the border with Poland on Friday afternoon, wanting to talk to Polish officials about rising tensions caused by protests by Polish farmers blocking the border, but the meeting did not take place. The government of Minister Donald Tusk did not listen to the call of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi to come to the meeting, Prime Minister Shmigal said.

“Unfortunately, such a meeting with Polish officials did not take place today,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal complained in a Telegram message, which was cited by Reuters and Agerpres.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi on Wednesday asked Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Polish President Andrzej Duda and representatives of the EU to come to the Ukrainian-Polish border to discuss the protests of Polish farmers.

Zelensky said his government would move to the Polish border by Saturday, February 24, the two-year anniversary of the Russian invasion, while calling on Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to do the same. “We are ready to make proposals, make decisions, take welcome steps,” Zelenskyy said, adding that he did not know “whether the Polish side will be there or not.”

Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Thursday responded to Zelensky’s request for a quick meeting at the border, refusing this request and reminding that a joint meeting of the governments of Poland and Ukraine is already scheduled for March 28 in Warsaw.

This week, Polish farmers almost completely blocked checkpoints on the border with Ukraine and threw out wagons of Ukrainian grain to protest unfair competition from Ukrainian agricultural products, which they say are entering Poland uncontrollably under European Commission rules.

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