Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister: We are not negotiating the closure of the border with Poland

"Ukraine does not intend to close its borders with Poland. No one on the Ukrainian side is negotiating this issue," said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov. Earlier, Donald Tusk spoke about ongoing talks with Ukraine about the complete closure of the border for trade. The Ukrainian politician added that he expects "appropriate decisions" from the Polish government.

The protests by farmers, which have been going on for several weeks, who oppose the uncontrolled import of Ukrainian agricultural products into Poland, forced Prime Minister Donald Tusk to react. On Wednesday, the head of government announced that he would convene an agricultural summit on Thursday, where he would talk to the protesters.

At a press conference, the Prime Minister announced that he had started talks with the Ukrainian side about the complete closure of the border for trade, but he noted that this would be a temporary and "painful" solution for both sides.

Donald Tusk said that this issue would be one of the topics of his talks with the farmers. - I am ready to make tough decisions regarding the border with Ukraine - always in agreement with Kyiv - so that there are no unnecessary tensions. But we have to find a long-term solution - declared Tusk.

Kubrakov about closing the borders. "We are not negotiating this issue"

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov responded to Donald Tusk's words, who addressed the issue of closing the borders with Poland on social media.

"Ukraine does not intend to close its borders with Poland. No one on the Ukrainian side is negotiating this issue", Kubrakov said on Twitter, adding that during the war with Russia "a stable border is a matter of survival for us".

He also assured that he wants to maintain good relations with Poland and work out a compromise on the issue of Ukrainian agricultural products. "We have great respect for friendly Poland and have proposed constructive solutions and taken steps to ease tensions on the border", wrote the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine.

"We expect appropriate decisions from the Polish government to ensure that there is no impasse", concluded the Ukrainian politician.

Szmyhal about the protests at the border. "Ukraine may apply retaliatory measures"

A few days earlier, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal warned that if the farmers' protest on the border does not stop, Kyiv may set up its own blockades at the crossings with Poland.

The issue of unblocking the border should be resolved by March 28, otherwise Ukraine may apply retaliatory measures at the border crossings - he said during a visit to the border last Friday.
The head of the Ukrainian government added that the Ukrainian side has developed a five-point plan to break the deadlock on the border, which Kyiv would also discuss with the EC.

- And now we will implement these five points very quickly. We will work every day. We have also announced compromises. On September 16, we introduced a verification mechanism for four groups of cereals - said Szymyhal.