"I am not a rag": Zelenskyy spoke about the consequences of Poland's border blockade
Due to the blockade of the border with Ukraine by Polish farmers, the country lost hundreds of millions of dollars and part of its crops. Therefore, Ukraine was forced to defend its interests.
This was announced by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a press conference. He reminded: The EU was against such actions by Poland, which caused tensions between the two countries.
"We lost hundreds of millions of dollars, we lost part of the harvest. And we began to lose political relations. I am not some kind of rag, I am defending the interests of the state," the president said.
He emphasized: "Ukraine was ready not to sell its grain in Poland. However, it wanted to be able to transport it through its territory for sale in other countries.
"We did not have a free Black Sea corridor. We had a problem in Slovakia, we could have problems with Romania, with Hungary, and with our closest friends, Poland. And then I said: what is the compromise? Okay, we won't sell grain in Poland, but let us export it," Zelenskyy said.
At the same time, the president emphasized that these actions resulted in losses not only for Ukraine but also for Poland itself. After all, Ukraine has created corridors for selling its products bypassing this country.
"Poland has lost financially. We built corridors [to bypass it]. ... Did we want this? No, we did not want it," the head of state stated.
At the same time, he emphasized that despite all the difficulties, Ukraine is grateful to Poland, which has been helping it since the beginning of the full-scale war. "I want to thank Poland and President Duda and [the] whole society. You have been with us since the beginning of the war, you have accepted our people. We are historically grateful to you," Zelenskyy said.
As OBOZ.UA reported earlier, the new Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk promised that when he re-heads the country's government, the problem of blocking the border with Ukraine will be solved by the Poles themselves. However, he did not name any specific steps to achieve this.
Later, the new Polish government started talking about tightening trade restrictions on Ukraine. In particular, Polish Deputy Minister of Agriculture Michal Kolodziejczak, who was elected to the Sejm on the list of Tusk's Civic Coalition, proposed closing the Polish agricultural market to Ukraine for 20 years after our country's accession to the EU.
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Volodymyr Zelensky
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