Kiev Sends Note Of Protest To Poland, EU After Banning Ukrainian Import

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has applied to embassies of Poland and the European Union with a note of protest against restrictions on import of its products, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said on Saturday.

"Yesterday, notes were sent to embassies of the Republic of Poland and the European Union regarding the absolutely unacceptable situation with trade restrictions on import of Ukrainian agricultural products," Nikolenko said on social media.

Nikolenko said that the imposed restrictions corresponded neither to the agreement between Ukraine and the EU nor the principles and standards of the European single market. There are all the necessary legal grounds for immediate resumption of the import, Nikolenko added.

On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he urged the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, to resolve the issue with restrictions against the import of Ukrainian products.

Ukraine was granted a temporary duty-free trade arrangement with the EU last June. In March 2022, the EU additionally launched green corridors to facilitate the transit of Ukrainian grain to the world market. However, the cheap grain from Ukraine ended up flooding EU markets instead, prompting outrage among local farmers.

On April 15, Poland and Hungary said they were banning imports of Ukrainian agricultural products until June 30, citing the need to protect domestic farmers from the uncontrolled influx of cheap grain from Ukraine. Slovakia followed suit on April 17 and Bulgaria on April 19.