Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday criticized “protectionist measures” from neighboring countries which limit imports of Ukrainian grain, saying they are “absolutely unacceptable”, APA reports citing CNN.
The EU last week adopted a temporary measure that bans wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed originating in Ukraine from being exported to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, after those countries raised concerns over local farmers being undercut by a bottleneck of cheap Ukrainian grain.
“Unfortunately, we have encountered problems where we should have continued to see strong signs of solidarity, in proportion to the threats that exist today — tough and even brutal, for wartime, protectionist measures from our neighbors," Zelensky said at a joint news conference with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen,
“Any restrictions on our exports now are absolutely unacceptable because they do not strengthen all of us in Europe, instead they strengthen the aggressor's capabilities,” he added.
Addressing Zelensky's concerns, von der Leyen described the grain topic as a "challenging situation" and vowed to set up a joint "coordination platform" to get grain exports "fully functioning again.”
"The immediate priority now is that the grain transit goes seamlessly and at the lowest possible cost outside of Ukraine towards the European Union,” she said.
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