The Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov on Monday asked Poland to punish Polish farmers who throw grain from Ukraine out of transport, Reuters and Agerpres reported.

Protest of Polish farmersPhoto: AA / Abaca Press / Profimedia Images

At the end of last week, about 160 tons of Ukrainian grain was destroyed at a railway station in Poland in the context of mass protests by Polish farmers at the border.

Kubrakov said on the social network “X”, formerly Twitter, that the Poles acted “with impunity and irresponsibility”, and the guilty should be “found, neutralized and punished”.

“Two friendly civilized European states are interested in this,” he added.

Polish farmers, protesting what they see as unfair Ukrainian competition and European Union environmental regulations, blocked border crossings with Ukraine and several roads this month and deliberately threw Ukrainian agricultural products from wagons.

Reuters reminds that similar incidents on the Polish-Ukrainian border are not the first time.

Growing tension on the border between Poland and Ukraine

On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was important for his country to continue to maintain close relations with Poland, but Kyiv was ready to protect economic activity that was affected by the border blockade by Polish protesters.

Last week, the Polish government reacted sharply to the fact that a poster was hung at one of the farmers’ protests asking Russian President Vladimir Putin to “bring order to Ukraine.”

“The police and the prosecutor’s office are taking measures against its creator. There will be no tolerance for such criminal acts,” wrote Polish Minister of Internal Affairs Marcin Kerwinski in a message published on “X”.

The poster read: “Putin, put order in Ukraine, in Brussels and in our government!”. The Soviet flag was attached to it. When a journalist from Gazeta Wyborcza drew attention to the scandalous banner, protest organizers responded that protesters are individually responsible for the content of their banners.