Poland, one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters, has stated that it will no longer transfer armaments to Ukraine to aid in its conflict with Russia. The disagreement coincides with a diplomatic fight over grain and agricultural exports.
Following Mateusz Morawiecki’s announcement that Warsaw would stop supplying Ukraine with weapons and would instead concentrate on restocking its own arsenal, speculation erupted on social media platforms as to whether the two countries’ relations had soured.
Warsaw has been one of Kyiv’s most steadfast supporters ever since the start of Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Poland has given Ukraine military, financial, and humanitarian aid totaling nearly €4.27 billion (about $4.54 billion) so far, according to the Ukraine Support Tracker of the Kiel Institute, which measures the amount of aid that governments have promised to Kiev.
Warsaw has also been instrumental in pressuring other EU and NATO countries to supply more arms to Ukraine ever since Moscow’s assault started.
Relations between the two partners have deteriorated in recent weeks, after Warsaw’s embargo on Ukrainian grain imports in an effort to safeguard Polish farmers from an invasion of cheap grain and food imports.
Hungary and Slovakia have joined Poland in extending national bans on Ukrainian grain and food imports.
The limitations were imposed after the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, decided not to extend its prohibition on imports into those nations, as well as Bulgaria and Romania, who are also members of the union.
For much of last year, some 60% of grain from Ukraine, one of the world’s biggest exporters, transited through the five eastern EU countries.
Ukraine was forced to find alternative land routes to move produce after Russia’s invasion largely blocked shipping routes via Black Sea ports.
Despite their differences, Ukraine managed to broker an interim deal on Thursday to license its grain exports to Slovakia.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian and Polish agriculture ministers said they were working towards an agreement that would help resolve the situation in a way that takes both countries interests into account.
