Domestic farmers’ worries are trumping EU solidarity with Kyiv as the Black Sea blockade threatens to fuel a global food crisis and stunt Ukraine’s next harvest.
Ukraine needs help getting millions of tons of grain exports out of the country, as attacks on ports and ships continue into a third month.
Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyi came to Brussels this week to make a direct appeal to his EU counterparts. Ukraine needs to be able to move more farm products through Europe, as well as €1.1 billion to cover higher shipping costs. Without help, cash-strapped farmers won’t be able to start planting for next season, compounding the problem.
“It’s very, very critical,” Vysotskyi told POLITICO during his visit.
The answer: Sorry, but no. Two of the countries with the most vital infrastructure for boosting shipping and storage capacity, Poland and Romania, said there is nothing more they can or will do to help.
The rebuff illustrates a persistent gap between the EU’s ambitions to support Ukraine and domestic political realities.
In an interview, Vysotskyi described harvested grain and oilseeds piling up without a buyer — leaving farmers without the cash they need to plant winter seeds now for next year’s harvest. “If the situation stays like this till spring, it could mean the decrease of even 35-40% of the planted area,” he said.