Polish farmers are protesting against an influx of cheap Ukrainian grain and against EU regulations on the use of pesticides and fertilizers.
According to organizers, tractors flying Polish flags blocked highways and important intersections in around 200 locations.
Several border crossings with Ukraine are also closed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the protests showed that “the sense of solidarity with Ukraine is being undermined every day.”He said the protests were about politics and not about grains, as “only 5% of agricultural exports cross Poland’s borders”.
Footage on social media showed grain spilling from a freight car onto the tracks at the Medica crossing.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Poland Vasyl Zvarich condemned the act, stating that the spilled grain came from Ukraine.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Mr Zvarych said: “The police should react decisively and punish those who break the law. It is also a lack of respect for the work of Ukrainian farmers in conditions of Russian aggression towards themselves and others. Shame and disgrace, gentlemen!”
A Ukrainian deputy prime minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, called the act a “political provocation aimed at dividing our nations”.
Ukrainian truck drivers retaliated by announcing they would stop Polish drivers at three border crossings.
After protests in recent months, large queues of trucks have formed at several border crossings. Currently, customs clearance at border crossings takes him more than two weeks.
Protest organizers in Poland are demanding the lifting of a ban on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products and restrictions on the use of fertilizers and pesticides under the EU Green Deal.After the Russian invasion, the EU granted Ukraine duty-free access to its market.Polish traders bought up cheap Ukrainian grain, but due to a lack of port infrastructure, much of the grain remained in Poland and was not exported to third countries.This led to Polish grain stocks reaching a record high last year.In May, the European Commission imposed a ban on the import of Ukrainian grain to five neighboring countries, but this did not apply to grain in transit. When the ban was lifted in September, Poland unilaterally introduced its own ban on four grains, in addition to flour and animal feed.Poland’s new pro-EU government understands farmers’ demands and is urging Brussels to compromise with Ukraine on imports.In January, the EU announced that it would introduce a “safeguard mechanism” that would allow it to reimpose emergency tariffs on Ukraine if import surpluses threaten to destabilize the market.