Ukraine turns to Poland and other neighbors. Request for consent to transit agricultural products

According to RTL, Volodymyr Zelensky talked on Friday with Peter Magyar about rebuilding relations between Ukraine and Hungary. One of the topics was to be the possibility of resuming the transit of Ukrainian agricultural products through neighboring countries.

He asked Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and all neighboring countries for permission to transit, as was the case three or four years ago, at the beginning of the war, Magyar told RTL.

He added that Ukraine would transport, among others: corn in sealed trains to Western European countries.

Magyar allegedly assured that Hungary would accept such a solution provided that Ukrainian grain would not reach the Hungarian market.

I said that if the goods only pass through the country, there will be no obstacles, he emphasized, quoted by RTL.

The transit model would refer to the solutions proposed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. At that time, some countries in the region agreed to transport Ukrainian agricultural products to ports and recipients in other countries, while introducing restrictions on their sale on local markets.

Black Sea routes blocked by Russian attacks

Ukraine is one of the world's largest producers of wheat, corn and sunflower seeds. Before full-scale Russian aggression, much of these goods were exported through Black Sea ports.

The Russian attack campaign has significantly limited the export capacity of Ukrainian ports. The search for alternative land routes is therefore important for the Ukrainian agricultural sector and food supplies to foreign markets.

The issue of grain transit also returns amid problems with this year's corn harvest in the European Union. According to the European Commission's forecast from the end of August, quoted in the material, the EU harvest of this grain was to amount to 50.1 million tons.

This would be close to the lowest level in about two decades and nearly one-fifth lower than the average for the previous three years. Farmers in France and Hungary felt the effects of record temperatures and drought particularly hard.