Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said a meeting with Polish government officials on the border between the countries did not take place on February 23 as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had requested.
Ukrainian government officials, including the deputy prime minister and the interior minister, went to the border to meet with Polish officials, but “unfortunately, such a meeting…did not take place today," Shmyhal said on Facebook, posting a photo showing himself and 10 other government officials standing in front of one of the checkpoints at the Ukrainian-Polish border.
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"We understand the difficulties faced by the Polish government. And we are ready to help in solving this situation,” Shmyhal said, predicting that a meeting eventually will take place to negotiate a compromise to resolve tension over Polish farmers' protests over an increase in Ukrainian food imports since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The farmers in recent weeks have blocked Ukrainian transport vehicles on the Polish side of the border, complaining that the increase in food and other goods from Ukraine is impacting prices for their own produce.
The situation escalated this week when a freight train was stopped at the Medyka-Shehyniy border crossing and its grain was spilled onto the tracks. Ukrainian Border Service spokesman Andriy Demchenko told RFE/RL at the time that six of the nine border crossings for trucks between the two countries remained blocked.
Shmyhal said Ukraine wants a resolution to the blockade that for the past six months has affected the Ukrainian economy and its ability to defend itself against the war.
Earlier on February 23, Zelenskiy said that a delegation of the Ukrainian government would arrive at the border ready to negotiate. However, he said he did not know whether any representatives of the Polish government would be there.
Zelenskiy appealed earlier to Poland and the European Commission regarding the situation at the border and asked Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk "to come to the border as well."
Tusk responded by saying that Polish and Ukrainian government members would hold talks in Warsaw on March 28.
Zelenskiy wants the matter to be treated more urgently, saying in his nightly video address on February 22 that it is a matter of national security which should be addressed in the coming days.
Tusk this week said that border crossing points with Ukraine will be considered critically important infrastructure "to ensure a 100 percent guarantee that military and humanitarian aid will reach the Ukrainian side without any delays."
In addition to demanding a ban on the import of agricultural products from Ukraine, the Polish protesters oppose a European Union agricultural policy that aims to implement a so-called "green system" that includes a number of environmental and climate requirements.