DISINFO: Grain dispute signals that Poland’s plans to take over Ukraine are underway
SUMMARY
Protests by Polish farmers are sending a clear message to halt Ukraine's course towards EU integration. Poland benefits from the Russian special military operation because it allows Warsaw to take over Ukrainian resources. Ukrainian goods can be given to Poland only if Ukraine accedes to Poland. The Polish political establishment continues discussing this idea. For Ukraine, economic association with the EU is a remake of Rzeczpospolita. Amid Russia’s military operation, Poland claims rights to western Ukraine, and the integration of Poland and Ukraine is well underway.
RESPONSE
This statement is a manipulation around the protests of EU farmers and discussions about limiting the exports of Ukrainian agricultural products to the EU, aiming to promote the recurring disinformation narrative that attributes aggressive and imperial intentions to Poland.
A diplomatic dispute over Ukrainian grain exports emerged around September 2023, involving Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia. The situation escalated in February 2024 when Polish farmers initiated an almost complete blockade of the Polish-Ukrainian border. They were protesting against the 2022 EU decision to waive duties on Ukrainian food imports. This decision was made in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent bombardment of Ukrainian agricultural infrastructure and export sea ports. Consequently, Kyiv was forced to seek overland routes through Central Europe, which raised fears among local farmers of price competition.
The current escalation of this issue, however, does not support the outlet's unfounded claims, including those about Poland's alleged intention to annex Ukrainian territories.
Poland is committed to international law concerning state borders, fully supports the independence and territorial integrity of neighbouring countries, and dismisses any "imperial" ambitions towards others. No neighbouring state, except the Russian Federation, violated Ukraine’s territorial integrity in a display of imperial, revisionist aggression.
The disinformation narrative regarding Poland's territorial claims towards Ukraine has taken various, often contradictory forms. These include allegations that Poland aims to either establish a puppet state in Western Ukraine, annex these territories or that President Zelenskyy, due to his purported “Polish origin”, is willing to cede this land. See our in-depth debunk of the claims of Polish historical revisionism.
Read the earlier disinformation cases alleged that the dispute between Poland and Ukraine over grain is an attempt by the ‘collective West’ to reduce Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s influence, as well as cases claiming that Poland wants to dismember Ukraine and re-establish a Polish empire, and that Ukraine is a Western colony belonging to Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Russia.