After days of protests by Polish farmers, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky now wants to send Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and other cabinet members to the blocked border crossings for negotiations.
This applies especially to Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, Zelensky said in a video address published in Ukrainian and Polish on Wednesday.
This should happen before the second anniversary of the war on Saturday.
“Unfortunately, this blockade at the border endangers the supply of weapons to our boys at the front,” he said.
Zelensky also addressed Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Poland's President Andrzej Duda.
“I ask you, Donald, Prime Minister, to go to the border as well. Andrzej, Mr. President, I also ask you to support this dialogue,” he appealed to the Polish leadership.
He stressed that this is a matter of Ukrainian national security.
“We cannot delay this,” Zelensky said, adding that he is ready to drive to the border himself.
At the same time, the Ukrainian president said the European Commission should also send representatives to the desired meeting.
For days, Polish farmers have been trying to block lorries carrying Ukrainian grain at the Polish-Ukrainian border. Several thousand lorries are said to be backed up at the border crossings.
The dissatisfaction of Polish farmers is directed against EU agricultural policy, but also against the import of cheap agricultural products from Ukraine.
On Tuesday, buses and freight trains from Ukraine were also the target of the protests for the first time.
Poland is one of Ukraine's most important supporters in the war that has been going on for almost two years.
Especially at the beginning of the Russian invasion, the neighbouring country was one of the main destinations for millions of Ukrainian refugees.
