In Poland, protesters again spilled Ukrainian grain
This time, it was corn bound for Germany
Polish farmers who blocked about 100 roads leading to the border with Ukraine on Tuesday broke into two Ukrainian freight cars at the border and spilled grain on the rails, local police said.
Source. This was reported by the BBC.
Protests by Polish farmers and truckers have been going on since last autumn. They are dissatisfied with the increase in taxes and cuts in subsidies, as well as the European Commission's decision to lift the trade ban on grain from Ukraine on 15 September, which is why Polish farmers are losing out in competition with Ukrainian ones.
The incident occurred near the Medyka-Szegini border crossing during another large-scale strike.
"A group of farmers went to the rails running along the blocked road... Some grain was found on the rails," a police spokeswoman in Medyka told AFP.
Such actions provoke a sharp reaction from Ukraine, for which grain exports are one of the few revenue-generating items in its fragile wartime economy. Earlier, Polish officials had to apologise to their Ukrainian counterparts because of spilled grain.
Reacting to the new incident in Medica, Ukraine's Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky said that Kyiv "strongly condemns such forms of protest," adding that the wagon was carrying corn for delivery to Germany.
"Ukraine does not export corn to Poland. Obstructing Ukraine's trade with other countries of the world is unacceptable and contradicts the common Ukrainian-Polish goals," Solsky said.
Background. Following the previous incident, the Polish prosecutor's office launched an investigation into the scattering of Ukrainian grain by strikers. The perpetrators could be imprisoned for 5 years for destruction of property and violation of customs security.
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