There was no talk of closing borders. The Deputy Minister of Economy denied the words of the Polish Prime Minister

Today, representatives of Ukraine and Poland held negotiations on unblocking the border. While there was no talk of a complete border closure for trade, Donald Tuskʼs words may have been premature.

This was stated by Deputy Minister of Economy Taras Kachka.

According to him, he met with Minister of Development and Technology of Poland Krzysztof Hetman and Minister of Agriculture Czeslaw Sekerski. The negotiations lasted four hours.

"For all four hours of negotiations, the option of closing the border was not mentioned. As Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said quite clearly, this would be a very painful decision for our economies," Kachka said.

He specified that the suspension of trade, which in annual terms amounts to 11.7 billion dollars, even for a day, is too painful. And thatʼs not to mention transit.

"There are no details yet, but a constructive solution is possible. Therefore, I encourage everyone to read Donald Tuskʼs statement completely and carefully — with all the elements of rhetoric and punctuation. News headlines can be misleading. At this moment, more than ever, letʼs keep calm and work hard," Kachka said.

According to him, both parties are currently working on a constructive solution, how to unblock the border and take into account the interests of Polish and Ukrainian farmers, because "it is not easy, but possible."

• In November 2023, the movement of trucks at four checkpoints with Ukraine began to be blocked in Poland. Polish transporters were joined by local farmers, putting forward their demands regarding the import of Ukrainian grain into the territory of Poland. On January 16, 2024, Polish transporters, and on February 9 the Polish farmersʼ trade union "Solidarity" again completely blocked traffic at the "Medyka" checkpoint opposite the Ukrainian checkpoint "Shegyna". The reason for the organizers was the non-fulfillment of their demands regarding the restriction of the export of food products and agricultural raw materials from Ukraine. On February 13, Polish farmers announced that on February 20 they would block all checkpoints on the border between Poland and Ukraine. In response, on February 15, a protest action by Ukrainian transporters began on the border with Poland at the entrance to the checkpoint "Yagodin — Dorogusk". On February 18, the State Customs Service of Ukraine reported that Polish farmers completely blocked passage to Ukraine through the Dorogusk-Yagodin checkpoint.
• On February 27, Donald Tusk said that Poland may expand the embargo on Ukrainian products, as, according to him, products and agricultural raw materials from Ukraine pose a serious dumping threat to his countryʼs economy.