Poland and Romania have said they can no longer do anything to help Ukraine export grain through Europe, as the blockade of the Black Sea continues, UNN reports, citing Politico.
Details
The publication emphasizes that concerns of local farmers outweigh EU solidarity with Kyiv, while the blockade of the Black Sea threatens to deepen the global food crisis and disrupt next year’s harvest in Ukraine.
Ukraine needs help exporting millions of tonnes of grain, as attacks on ports and vessels have been ongoing for the third month already.
This week, Minister of Agrarian Policy Taras Vysotskyi arrived in Brussels to personally appeal to his counterparts from EU countries. Ukraine needs to increase the volume of agricultural products transported through Europe, as well as receive €1.1 billion to cover logistics costs. Without assistance, farmers facing an acute shortage of funds will be unable to begin next season’s sowing campaign, which will only exacerbate the problem.
"The situation is critical, very critical," Vysotskyi told Politico during his visit.
According to the publication, the response was: sorry, but no. The two countries with the most important infrastructure for expanding grain transportation and storage capacity — Poland and Romania — said they could not and would not do anything additional to help.
Turkey and the UN are preparing new talks on a ceasefire in the Black Sea — media01.10.26, 21:52
"The interests of our own farmers remain the priority," Romanian Agriculture Minister Barna Tanchosh told Politico. The surplus of Ukrainian grain, combined with low water levels in the Danube, is already overloading his country’s ports, preventing Romanian farmers from selling their own produce.
The media outlet notes that this refusal demonstrates the persistent gap between the EU’s ambitions to support Ukraine and domestic political realities. As one of the world’s "breadbaskets," Ukraine "poses a real threat to the welfare of European farmers, who are an influential voting bloc in many EU member states." Even before the escalation of hostilities in the Black Sea, Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary banned imports of Ukrainian grain.
According to Vysotskyi, less than half of the export volume can currently be transported through European rail, road, and river routes. If the blockade continues, up to 35 million tonnes of grain could remain blocked in Ukraine this year. Romania is trying to optimize its logistics, Tanchosh emphasized. Last month, Bucharest even signed a memorandum of understanding with Kyiv to simplify border crossings and improve rail connections.
But "everyone understands that we cannot double the number of trains, we cannot double the number of roads, railways, or port capacity," Tanchosh said. — "We have what we have."
In Poland, the Ministry of Infrastructure "does not plan to introduce any changes aimed at increasing the transit of Ukrainian agricultural products," ministry spokesperson Anna Shumanska said.
PACE called for restoring the security of the Black Sea and Odesa’s ports — MP30.09.26, 23:01
Although assistance will not arrive immediately, the EU has not ruled out the possibility of collective action. "We need to... resolve this issue," European Commissioner for Agriculture Christophe Hansen said this week, expressing concern about global food security, although he made no specific commitments.
Some capitals are proposing additional support. As Ukraine considers ports in the Netherlands and Germany as new routes for exporting its products, a spokesperson for Germany’s Agriculture Ministry said that Berlin is "making every effort in Europe to ensure the strengthening of alternative export routes."
Additionally
In the interview, Vysotskyi spoke about the harvested grain and oilseeds that are accumulating without buyers, leaving farmers without the funds needed to sow winter crops for next year’s harvest. "If the situation does not change by spring, this could lead to a reduction in sown areas of as much as 35–40%," he said.
The consequences will be felt far beyond Europe. Exchanges of strikes between Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea could cause exports from both countries to decline, affecting more than 17% of global grain trade, according to a recent report by the Council on Foreign Relations. "The number of people who will find themselves on the brink of acute hunger because of the current crisis in the Black Sea could exceed the total number of battlefield casualties in the war between Russia and Ukraine," the report’s authors warn.