Poland warns to end its support for Ukraine over Kyiv's WTO complaint on farm products ban

Poland might decide to halt its support for Ukraine if public opinion goes against backing the Kyiv regime, said Polish Minister for the European Union Szymon Szynkowski vel Sek on Wednesday. The statement comes a day after Ukraine filed a complaint at the World Trade Organisation against Hungary, Poland and Slovakia after they banned grain and other food products coming from the war-torn country.

On Tuesday, the WTO told Sputnik that Ukraine has submitted a complaint to the trade organisation, urging consultations regarding the said ban on the import of Ukrainian grain to Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.

It is to be noted that the European Commission announced it would lift the ban on duty-free Ukrainian grain imports to five member states bordering Ukraine, on September 15. The EU also demanded that Kyiv introduce export controls. Following the decision, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia announced the ban. Later, Ukraine threatened to prohibit the import of certain goods from Poland and Hungary if they failed to remove the grain embargo. 

Ukraine complains to WTO

This step has promoted a  political showdown pitting farmer against farmer and widens a rift between Ukraine, a major global food supplier, and three members of the European Union. Notably, the EU has been a pivotal partner of Kyiv amid the Russia-Ukraine war, reported A 

After Poland, Hungary and Slovakia's announcements, Croatia also joined the group. However, all would be allowing those products to move through their borders to parts of the world where people are going hungry. According to these countries,  the decision to ban is the need of the hour as they have to protect their farmers from a supply glut that drives down local prices and hurts livelihoods. 

Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki warned that Warsaw would expand the list of import bans from Ukraine if the neighbouring nation would further escalate the spat. "I warn the Ukrainian authorities, because if they escalate this conflict in this way, we will add more products to the ban on import into the territory of the Republic of Poland," Morawiecki told Polsat News