Czech minister warns of consequences when Poland and Ukraine `retaliate, tit for tat`
(Dan Tri) – `If Poland and Ukraine do not reconcile, we will all lose,` Czech Defense Minister Jana Cernochova warned.
Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi and his Polish counterpart Robert Telus (Photo: AFP).
`I’m sorry, but I have to say that today’s statement by the President of Ukraine against Poland is really counterproductive,` Ms. Jana Cernochova posted on her personal social network after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s speech to the Congress.
At the September 19 session of the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Zelensky said that while Ukraine is trying to maintain grain export routes, some European countries are pretending to unite and indirectly support
Minister Jana emphasized: `The problem became even worse when on September 19, Ukraine filed a complaint against Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the WTO regarding grain exports.`
The Czech Defense Minister said that the parties `need to put aside pride, sit at the negotiating table, apologize and continue to resolve the problem.`
`I hope this happens as soon as possible and I’m asking all parties to do it. If we can’t do it, we will all lose,` she urged.
According to Ms. Jana, Poland and Slovakia are in the final stages of the election process, so it is very difficult for the governments of these countries to explain to the people: `We have been helping Ukraine for more than a year.`
Tensions between Poland and Ukraine escalated recently after Warsaw decided to extend the ban on imports of Ukrainian grain.
On September 20, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that this country is focusing on rearming the army, therefore cannot provide military aid to Kiev.
Polish President Andrzej Duda later corrected that Poland would only provide the weapons it had committed to Ukraine, without providing new weapons.
Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus also said he is willing to discuss grain export issues with Ukraine as long as the interests of Polish farmers are guaranteed and Ukrainian grain does not flood into Poland.
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Arkadiusz Mularczyk hopes the US will intervene to reconcile Warsaw and Kiev.
Tensions between Poland and Ukraine have Western allies worried about cracks in the pro-Kiev alliance.
On the Russian side, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today, September 22, that Moscow predicts tensions between Ukraine and Poland will escalate.
`We know that tensions between Ukraine and European countries will escalate over time. This is inevitable. We will continue the special military campaign to achieve the set goals,` Mr. Peskov said.
Answering the question of whether Russia and Belarus were concerned when neighboring Poland announced it was arming its military, Mr. Peskov said Moscow and Minsk were cooperating to ensure security for both countries.