Out of anger at Zelensky?
Poland no longer supplies weapons to Ukraine
September 21, 2023, 1:30 a.m
The dispute between Poland and Ukraine over grain deliveries is escalating. After Zelenskyj’s sharp remarks before the UN General Assembly, Poland first summoned the ambassador. In the evening, Prime Minister Morawiecki announced a halt to all arms deliveries to Kiev.
According to its own statements, Poland is no longer supplying weapons to Ukraine, but is instead concentrating on arming its own country. “We are no longer transferring weapons to Ukraine because we are arming ourselves with the most modern weapons,” said Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Polsat News in the evening. The Polish army should quickly become one of the strongest land armies in Europe, he added.
Since the beginning of the war, Warsaw has been one of Ukraine’s largest supporters and arms suppliers. But a dispute recently flared up between the two countries over grain deliveries. Morawiecki did not say whether the decision was related to the dispute. The statement came a few hours after Warsaw summoned Ukraine’s ambassador to the conflict to protest against statements made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the United Nations.
The dispute had come to a head in the past few days. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has blocked the classic export route for Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea. The EU imposed trade restrictions on overland transport against Ukraine to protect local farmers.
“Please leave emotions out of it”
On Friday, the EU Commission declared the controversial trade restrictions to be over. However, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia immediately announced that they would not comply. Poland also threatened to impose import restrictions on other products. Zelenskyj then said at the UN on Tuesday that some countries were only feigning solidarity and indirectly supporting Russia.
Kiev commented on the summons of the Ukrainian ambassador by saying that the “Polish friends” should “leave their emotions aside.” The Ukrainian side offered Poland a constructive way to resolve the grain dispute, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
In Poland, the issue is very sensitive given the elections next month. Farmers are an important voter group for the right-wing nationalist PiS government. “The Ukrainian authorities do not understand the extent of the destabilization of the Polish agricultural industry,” Morawiecki said on Wednesday about the dispute. “We protect Polish farmers.” “The Ukrainian authorities do not understand the extent of the destabilization of the Polish agricultural industry,” Morawiecki said on Wednesday about the dispute. “We protect Polish farmers.”