Poland may ban more Ukrainian food products if row escalates, says PM

"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. Poland, Slovakia and Hungary announced curbs on grain imports from Ukraine on Friday after the European Commission decided not to extend a ban on sales into Ukraine's five EU neighbours, which also include Romania and Bulgaria.

Poland could ban imports of more Ukrainian food products, the prime minister said on Wednesday, as he warned Kyiv against escalating a row over grain imports as Warsaw toughens its stance ahead of October elections. Poland has been one of Ukraine's staunchest allies since Russia invaded the country in February 2022, but the countries are now embroiled in a deepening conflict over agricultural imports since Poland, along with Hungary and Slovakia, extended a ban on grain imports from their war-torn neighbour.

A World Trade Organization spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday that Ukraine had taken the first step in a trade dispute by filing a complaint to the global trade body. He did not name the countries although Kyiv has previously said the complaint targeted Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.

Also on Tuesday, Ukraine said it would impose retaliatory import curbs on certain goods from Poland and Hungary if they did not lift their unilateral bans, drawing a response from Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. "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.

Poland, Slovakia and Hungary announced curbs on grain imports from Ukraine on Friday after the European Commission decided not to extend a ban on sales into Ukraine's five EU neighbours, which also include Romania and Bulgaria. The ban was introduced to protect farmers there from a surge of grain and food imports from Ukraine since the invasion largely blocked its favoured routes via Black Sea ports.

'POLITICAL THEATRE' Poland will hold parliamentary elections on Oct. 15 and the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party is facing a challenge from the far right, which accuses it of being too soft towards Ukraine.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an address to the United Nations General Assembly that Kyiv was "working hard to preserve the land routes for grain exports" and that the "political theatre" around grain imports was only helping Moscow. His comments were not received well in Warsaw.

"President Zelenskiy went a few sentences too far," Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski told private broadcaster Radio Zet on Wednesday. In a live broadcast on Facebook Morawiecki said that Warsaw was ready to help Kyiv but "not at the price of destabilizing the Polish market".

On the Ukrainian side, Trade Representative Taras Kachka appeared to move to ease tensions, telling Polish private broadcaster RMF FM that he did not think that Kyiv would introduce an embargo on Polish apples and vegetables. Polish Agricultue Minister Robert Telus told state-run news agency PAP that he took Kachka's comments as a way of "calming down a certain atmosphere that had been building for two or three days".

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)