Kyiv calls spilling of Ukrainian grain by protesting Polish farmers a ‘political provocation’

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Tuesday that the spilling of the country’s grain by protesting Polish farmers is a “political provocation.”

“The spilled Ukrainian grain on the railroad tracks in Poland is another political provocation aimed at dividing our nations,” Kubrakov said in a statement published by Ukraine’s Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development Ministry.

Underlining that Polish protesters spilled about 4 tons of grain from two grain carriages that stopped at the train station in the border village of Medyka, the statement said the grain entered Poland in transit to Germany.

“Such ‘actions’ are a loss for everyone,” Kubrakov said, adding that Ukrainian farmers have been harvesting grain under constant danger.

“The Ukrainian army has literally broken through a corridor for this grain across the Black Sea … Up to 90% of our exports go through the Black Sea. It is a matter of our survival. And the survival of the world, which depends on Ukrainian grain, especially in Africa and Asia,” he further said.

The statement went on to say that Polish law enforcement agencies, the Polish Railways and Ukraine’s Embassy in Warsaw were informed about the incident.

Polish farmers intensified protests in several hundred towns across Poland to protest the EU’s agricultural policy, the Green Deal and duty-free inflow of agri-food goods from Ukraine.