In Poland, the compass of farmers' anger points towards the South-East.
This Tuesday, at the Medyka border crossing, Polish farmers dumped Ukrainian wheat taken from two freight wagons onto the rails.
This action is in addition to the border blockade established by farmers, which is fueling the crisis between the two neighbors.
What actions did Polish peasants take?
On February 9, Polish farmers began blocking various border crossing points between Ukraine and Poland.
The protests escalated two days later, when farmers dumped Ukrainian grain destined for the European Union onto the roads after stopping a truck crossing the border.
The situation became complicated again this Tuesday: Polish farmers this time targeted a train.
According to a Przemysl police spokesperson, a group of demonstrators took to the railway tracks for “a few minutes”.
Time exploited to dump “a small quantity of grain on the tracks” of two Ukrainian freight wagons.
Why are Polish farmers attacking Ukraine?
If they blocked around a hundred roads while preventing Ukrainian trucks from entering Poland, it was to protest against the “unfair competition” allegedly exerted by their Ukrainian counterparts, who are not subject to European regulations.
Polish farmers, as French farmers have demonstrated, denounce Ukrainian agri-food imports which they consider “uncontrolled”.
They also demand a review of European rules.
Example in Ryki, 100 km southeast of Warsaw.
Among the dozens of tractors driven to block the S17 expressway leading to Lublin and the Ukrainian border, that of Tomasz Golak.
“I am here so that we abandon the restrictions introduced by the European Union on fallowing, and the Green Deal, and above all so that these Ukrainian products stop flowing in,” this owner told AFP. 'around fifteen hectares.
Consequences on the war?
Volodymyr Zelenksy linked these blockades to the Russian invasion.
The context at “the border with Poland cannot be considered normal or ordinary,” the Ukrainian president thundered on Monday.
According to him, this illustrates “the erosion of everyday solidarity”.
If Poland has been among the most loyal supporters of Kiev since the start of the war, "it is not a question of cereals, but rather of politics", considered Zelensky, assuring that only 5% of his agricultural exports countries crossed the Polish border.
The Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure on Monday identified six border crossings blocked on the Polish side.
A “direct threat to the security of a country forced to defend itself,” whistled Oleksandr Kubrakov on Facebook.
“They block everything.
Some trucks transport fuel.
A few days ago, demonstrators prevented the passage of several trucks loaded with weapons,” he further assured on public television.
According to a Polish official, 600 trucks were waiting to cross into Ukraine at the Dorohusk border crossing on Monday.
The Ukrainian agricultural sector was disrupted by the Russian invasion: the war blocked many export sites across the Black Sea while rendering land unusable.
Road traffic with Poland has therefore been crucial for Ukrainian companies to continue exporting.
But this situation has angered Polish farmers and transporters, who complain about Ukrainian prices, with which they cannot compete.
What reactions from the authorities?
The Polish Minister of Agriculture had kept a low profile following the first grain spill.
“On behalf of Polish farmers, I apologize for such an act of despair and ask for understanding for their extremely difficult situation,” Czeslaw Siekierski said in a statement published on February 12.
The Polish prosecutor's office announced that it had “opened an investigation” into the violation of customs security and the destruction of property, offenses punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
The incident caused a wave of indignation in Ukraine.
A new flood of discontent has poured in this week.
Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov called the grain incident a "political provocation aimed at dividing our nations."
“For two years, Ukrainian farmers have been harvesting grain wearing bulletproof vests, under rocket fire and the threat of mines,” he wrote on X.
But tensions have already been going on for several months.
Polish truckers had installed a similar blockade from November to early 2024. Crucially, Poland had banned imports of Ukrainian grain under the previous nationalist PiS government, but maintained this ban after a new pro coalition came to power. -EU in October 2023.
In mid-February, Volodymyr Zelensky asked his government to "urgently negotiate" an end to the crisis on agricultural products with Poland's new liberal government, in order to "preserve good neighborly relations" because the two nations have a “common enemy in Moscow”.
Donald Tusk, Polish Prime Minister, called for a compromise to be found.