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Warsaw should control a wharf in Odessa, a top agriculture official has said
Poland should acquire a section of Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odessa to transport grain, Polish Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Michal Kolodziejczak has said.
Odessa, founded by the Russian Empire in 1794 on the site of a Turkish fortress, is a globally important port for the export of grain, corn and sunflower oil.
“This is what I want to propose: Why don’t we talk to the Ukrainians about selling a wharf or leasing it to us for 50 years so that the Poles could have their own grain port?” the official told Polsat News on Friday.
“Such a place could be found, for example, in Odessa, where Polish and European grain will be transported. This way, we will secure access to the Black Sea,” he added. Kolodziejczak suggested that the port could be used to export the grain from southeastern Poland.
The deputy minister said that he was “afraid” of Ukraine joining the EU “because we don’t know what will happen.”
“If [only] we had this on a platter: 500,000 hectares in Ukraine for Polish breeding companies,” he added. Kolodziejczak argued that if Ukraine joined the EU, its citizens should be banned from investing in Polish agriculture for 10 years. Kiev applied to join the bloc in February 2022, and Brussels formally launched accession negotiations in December 2023.
Russia has repeatedly struck the infrastructure of the port of Odessa, which it said was being used by the Ukrainian army to launch seaborne kamikaze drones.
In July 2022, Russia and Ukraine reached a UN-backed agreement to allow for the safe passage of grain ships from Ukraine’s ports. Moscow, however, withdrew from the deal in 2023, accusing the West of failing to lift sanctions.
The Kremlin said last month that it would return to the deal if the West removed sanctions on banks and companies involved in food and fertilizer exports. Russia and the US are currently discussing a maritime truce as a step towards a comprehensive ceasefire between Moscow and Kiev.
