Ukraine Strikes Deal with Poland over Grain Exports

The reversal of the ban on imports will be effective from Friday morning, the ministers said.

"We understand the causes of the nuances that appeared in our bilateral relations," Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi said in Warsaw. "We are very grateful for the great support and solidarity which each Pole has offered us every day since the war started, we should reach victory together as soon as possible."

The issue of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural exports to global markets ending up on the neighbouring markets of Poland, Hungary and Slovakia has become an escalating problem that is dividing not only Ukraine and the eastern EU states - hitherto among the strongest supporters of the country since it was invaded - but is also dividing those eastern states and the EU, and even dividing the eastern states themselves. It thus offers Russia's Vladimir Putin a rare opening to exploit, as the UN-sponsored deal with Russia to allow some exports via the Black Sea is due to end on May 18 and the crisis could encourage the Kremlin to abstain from prolonging it.

Since Russia began blocking Ukrainian agricultural exports via the Black Sea port of Odesa, the EU has supported the creation of so-called "solidarity routes" that allow the grain and other produce to travel overland to destinations across Europe as well as to other regions, including Africa, Asia and the Middle East. This solution has been a lifeline for the Ukrainian economy.

Yet too much of this agricultural produce has apparently been stuck on markets in Central and Eastern Europe, putting pressure on local farmers as Ukrainian prices are so much lower.

Ukrainian farmers harvest wheat in a field about 25 km from the front line in the Chuhuiv region of Kharkiv area,...