The Ukrainian side organized an unusual exhibition at the Krakowiec-Korczowa border crossing. Agricultural machinery destroyed in fields and farms during the war is transported there. This is supposed to be a response to Poles spilling Ukrainian grain.
Ukrainians want to show the Poles protesting at the border what their farmers are exposed to in their daily work and what costs they have to incur when harvesting crops from their fields. For this purpose, an exhibition documenting war destruction in the Ukrainian countryside is being created at the Krakowiec-Korczowa checkpoint on the Ukrainian side. Tractors, combine harvesters, sprayers and trucks that were bombed and burned as a result of the war were brought there. According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Agrarian Policy, this exhibition was created on the initiative of Ukrainian farmers.
Machines from Kherson
“Ukrainian farmers brought agricultural machinery damaged or destroyed by Russian invaders to the border with Poland. From today, they will be placed at the “Krakowiec-Korczowa” checkpoint. In this way, Ukrainian farmers want to show Polish protesters what conditions farmers in Ukraine are currently working in. ” – we read on the ministry’s website.
From this account we learn that the machines were supplied mainly by companies from the Kherson Oblast, where fierce battles with the Russians took place. As the Ukrainian ministry emphasizes, harvests there often take place at the expense of lives. Last year in the liberated areas in the Kherson Oblast, “Russian mines blew up 20 farmers and five were killed,” says the ministry. Agricultural machines destroyed as a result of the war are to remain on the border until the end of March.
At the same time, the Ukrainian ministry reports the losses suffered by the agricultural sector as a result of the war with Russia. The World Bank estimated it at over $80 billion. During the two years of the war, agricultural machinery worth $5.8 billion was damaged or destroyed. Theft and destruction of agricultural products amounted to $1.97 billion.
Pressure attempts?
According to reports from Polish farmers and carriers protesting at border crossings, Ukrainian “exhibitions” are also to be established at other border crossings. Protesters perceive them as another form of political pressure on Poland and playing on emotions in the EU. The reaction to the Ukrainians’ actions was, among others, Rafał Mekler, co-organizer of carrier protests, who currently supports farmers’ strikes.
“Ukrainians are bringing equipment destroyed in the fields to the area of the Uhryniów/Dołhobyczów crossing. It is supposed to be an emotion-based show whose aim is to put pressure on Poles regarding the export of grain to Poland.
I can go to post-leasing parking lots, I can record a film where the machines taken from farmers are standing, I can go to bailiff auctions where farmers lose their farms because they cannot afford loans. We can also build such a narrative,” Mekler wrote on his Facebook profile.
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