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Unanimity is a concept often put to the test across the European Union.

After Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, divisions over issues such as military aid and Ukraines EU candidacy have challenged an overall united front.

Last week, the EUs approach towards dealing with one of Russias closest allies China was also thrown into question after French President Emmanuel Macrons remarks that Europe should not be followers of Washington or Beijing regarding Taiwan.

And now, Ukrainian grain threatens to divide the union.

Amid a recent surge in cheap grains and farm products from Ukraine, Poland and Hungary announced temporary bans on imports on Saturday, to protect their own farmers interests. Slovakia joined them on Monday, and Bulgaria on Wednesday.

Romania, another country that has witnessed farmer protests over the issue, has so far stopped short of a ban.

While Ukraine has acknowledged the concerns of European farmers, authorities in Kyiv say Ukrainians have it harder.

But there are some signs of the crisis easing.

Top officials at the EU have condemned the measures but promised to solve the problem with money proposing millions of extra euros to support farmers in the continent.

And after talks with his Polish counterparts in Warsaw, Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi confirmed on Wednesday that the transit of Ukrainian grain and food products will resume through Poland.

Ukraine is also scheduled to hold talks with the other EU nations that have imposed bans later this week.

The blockade ended in August last year, with a deal signed by Russia and Ukraine that exports resume.

But Ukraines Solskyi has raised concerns about the status of this agreement with Moscow which is currently due to expire on May 18.

He said it was impossible to predict how many vessels Moscow would allow through.

Meanwhile, Russia has accused Ukraine of hindering ship inspection processes in Turkey.

According to the EU, as of March 2023, more than 23 million tonnes of grain and other foodstuffs have been exported via the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

To ensure there are no further obstacles in global exports, the EU unanimously agreed to lift all duties on Ukrainian grains and introduced solidarity lanes for the transit of the grains last year.

More than a year into the war, this move by the bloc has begun angering farmers across Eastern and Central Europe.

Ukrainian cereals should arrive in countries which need them urgently. But at the same time, this makes it hard for countries like Romania, which is a net exporter for cereals with more than half of our internal production being exported, Alina Cretu, executive director at the Romanian Forum of Professional Farmers and Processors, told Al Jazeera.

If some local traders buy these cereals from Ukraine, instead of buying from local farmers, which is already happening now, our farmers will face bankruptcy because we cant compete with the price of Ukrainian cereals, she said.

We feel that the EU is not clear how the situation is for farmers like us. Banning imports of Ukrainian grain into our markets for a determined period and ensuring strict transition of it through Romania will help our farmers meander through this complex period, said Cretu, who lives on a farm with her husband in southeastern Romania, where they cultivate wheat, barley, maize and sunflowers.

Similar sentiments have been expressed by farmers unions in Poland and other central and Eastern European countries.

The European Commission has rejected the import bans and said in a statement that the EUs trade policy is of exclusive competence and, therefore, unilateral actions are not acceptable.

Mats Cuvelier, a Brussels-based lawyer focusing on EU and international trade, told Al Jazeera that this does not prevent EU member states from stopping agricultural products from entering the EU if they determine that the products do not meet specific issues like the EUs sanitary standards.

Slovakia, for instance, appears to have justified its ban on the import of Ukrainian grain on the grounds that it detected pesticides not permitted in the EU, he said.

Slovakias Agriculture Minister Samuel Vlcan said the ban is a measure for the protection of the Slovak agro-food sector and mainly the health of consumers, but added that the transit of Ukrainian grains and other products through Slovakia could continue.

EU officials will discuss the bans this week.

Cuvelier added that while the European Commission could start infringement proceedings against an EU member state if it does not comply with the blocs trade laws, he expects the Commission to opt for a less confrontational solution like offering additional support to affected farmers.

In March, European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski allocated 29.5 million euros ($32m) to Poland, 16.75 million euros ($18m) to Bulgaria and 10.05 million euros ($11m) to Romania, seeking to support farmers.

On Wednesday, Ursula von der Leyen, the Commissions leader, suggested an extra 100 million-euro ($110m) support fund for farmers may help.

But Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Brussels, told Al Jazeera that money will not solve underlying issues because for countries like Poland and Hungary, the bloc has to first deal with its ongoing political beef.

Moreover amid food inflation, some EU countries might also be secretly happy with cheap Ukrainian grains. So negotiations on these import bans, which are illegal under EU law, are going to be difficult, he said.

The EU has been withholding funds worth 138 billion euros ($151bn) from Poland and Hungary in an effort to make the countries respect the rule of law.

Besides these budgetary tensions with the EU, the Polish government is also under pressure heading into elections and they need the support from rural voter groups, otherwise the government will lose the elections, Kirkegaard said.

In the case of Hungary, it is also more opportunistic from Prime Minister Viktor Orban who often creates pressure within the bloc when unanimous decisions have to be made. For Slovakia, it is also election season, so the politics is the same. But if Poland drops the ban, the other EU nations will follow suit as well, he added.

We need more financial support and investments in improving logistic facilities, like transportation, infrastructure, port modernisation and increasing stockage capacities, she said.

Kirkegaard also said the EU should zoom out and focus on the bigger picture.

While there is support for Ukraine throughout the bloc, it is being tempered by domestic concerns, which will continue. So while discussions to address each member states issues are tricky, they are important to achieve EU unanimity, he said.

If not, Russia will benefit from these divisions and could use it to its benefit.

Priyanka Shankar contributed to this report.

The rest is here:
Why is Ukrainian grain suddenly so divisive in Europe? - Al Jazeera English

18 April 2023

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is on a trip to Brazil

The White House has sharply criticised Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for accusing the United States of "encouraging" the war in Ukraine.

Lula said after a visit to China at the weekend that the US needed to start talking about peace in Ukraine.

Visiting Brazil, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met Lula and thanked Brazil for its efforts.

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby accused Lula of "parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda".

Lula, who has pitched himself as a broker for peace talks to end the conflict, said over the weekend that "the United States needs to stop encouraging war and start talking about peace".

Mr Lavrov, who visited Brasilia on Monday, said that Moscow was "grateful to our Brazilian friends for their clear understanding of the genesis of the situation".

"We are grateful for their desire to contribute to finding ways to settle this situation," he said.

Mr Kirby said Lula's comments were "simply misguided" and missed the mark by "suggesting the United States and Europe are somehow not interested in peace, or that we share responsibility for the war".

In response, Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said of Mr Kirby: "I don't know how or why he reached that conclusion but I do not agree at all."

Brazil has not joined Western countries in imposing sanctions on Russia and has refused requests to supply ammunition to Ukraine.

While Brazil is calling for peace talks, Ukraine and its allies say an immediate ceasefire would allow Russia to keep hold of territory it illegally obtained through force.

See the rest here:
Ukraine war: US accuses Lula of parroting propaganda - BBC

One of the systems was donated by the United States, while another was jointly gifted by Germany and the Netherlands.

Ukrainian troops have been training on the systems in recent months in what U.S. military officials called an absolutely a quick study. Soldiers began training at Fort Sill, Okla., in January and were expected to take up to a year, but were almost ready to use the systems in battle last month, the officials said. They also completed training in Europe alongside the Dutch and German militaries.

The delivery marks the end of Reznikovs lengthy effort to secure the defense systems, he said, as he asked allies for Patriots during a visit to the U.S. two years ago months before the war broke out.

He pleaded with U.S. officials, telling them our countrys liberty and independence are under threat. And what did we hear? Its impossible! But the impossible is possible, Reznikov wrote.

More:
'A dream': Patriot systems arrive in Ukraine - POLITICO

Ukraine

Risky actions of Ukraines secretive grassroots Yellow Ribbon movement recalled in Brussels exhibition

Wed 19 Apr 2023 07.27 EDT

One night last June, Liliya Aleksandrova slipped out of her home in occupied Kherson with some bright paints and a dangerous idea. She went to a grocery shop in her neighbourhood, a business that she knew was frequented by Russian soldiers who had invaded the city months before. Kherson is Ukraine, she wrote on a metal fence near the shop. Then she added a golden swirl of paint a yellow ribbon, the symbol of Ukraines resistance movement in the Russian-occupied territories.

For sure it was scary, but she asked God to help her, recounts an interpreter, who was summarising Aleksandrovas account to the Guardian.

At the time of her midsummer protest, the Russians were everywhere. People could be searched at checkpoints, sometimes forced to undress. Some simply disappeared. But Aleksandrova thought the risk was worth it. It was her idea to show she doesnt accept ruscism. She doesnt accept Russia being on this land, said the interpreter, using the compound of Russian and fascism widely used in Ukraine to describe the occupying forces. Aleksandrova, speaking from Kherson over a fuzzy Zoom screen, held aloft a picture of her grandfather, who fought in the second world war. He also did not accept the occupiers at that time, the interpreter added.

Aleksandrova could speak openly of her numerous acts of protest because Kherson was freed by Ukrainian forces in November after more than eight months of Russian occupation. After the liberation, Ukrainian investigators discovered alleged torture rooms where dozens of men were said to have been beaten, given electric shocks and sometimes killed. There were moments when she felt real fear because Russians were going by in their cars, they were going by in the streets and there was a constant threat of being noticed, of being exposed, the interpreter said.

Now the fence panel she graffitied has gone to Brussels, where it was one of the main objects at a two-day exhibition last week dedicated to the Yellow Ribbon resistance, an independent, non-violent grassroots movement.

Organised by the Yellow Ribbon movement with support from a Ukrainian NGO and PR firm, the exhibition took place outside the European parliament, with the aim of showing European decision-makers the reality of life under Russian occupation.

The green fence panel is battered and pock-marked by bullets traces of Russian attacks, Alexandrova said. She wanted this to be also a memory and a symbol of how Russians were destroying Kherson, her interpreter said.

According to Ukraines government, more than 100,000 sq km (38,600 sq miles) of the country are under occupation by Russia. That is 1,877 cities, towns and villages. Unfortunately, this number often remains abstract to foreigners, said Ukraines ambassador to the EU, Vsevolod Chentsov. Thousands of brave people are fighting against the huge ideological bubble in which Russian propaganda is investing millions.

One person is Ivan, a co-founder of the Yellow Ribbon movement, who lives in occupied Melitopol. Russia tries to create an informational vacuum where they are telling you that there is no Ukraine, Ukraine left you, your city is Russian, Russia is here forever, he said. Ivan is not his real name and he wore a mask throughout the conversation which partly obscured his face.

Acts of resistance, such as painting a yellow ribbon on a fence, show that Ukraine is still independent, it will liberate you sometime soon please do not take a Russian passport, he said.

The movement started in Kherson, the first big city to fall under Russian occupation. Pro-Ukraine demonstrations sprung up immediately. But on 27 April 2022, when about 500 people gathered to protest, Russian troops used teargas and stun grenades to break up the peaceful demonstration. Activists, such as Aleksandrova, were undeterred, but realised their protest would have to go underground.

To show resistance, they tied yellow ribbons to fences, or projected the initials of the Armed Forces of Ukraine () on to public buildings used by Russian forces or pro-Russian administrators. They put up posters with QR codes informing people how to avoid getting a Russian passport and avert sending their children to schools controlled by the Russian state.

The movement spread to other occupied territories. The Ukrainian letter which does not feature in the Russian alphabet and is essential for the Ukrainian spelling of Ukraine appeared on posters, walls and fences. When local authorities sought to ban the sale of blue and yellow paint, activists resorted to tearing up scraps of old clothes to make yellow ribbons. More recently activists have turned the Russian Z symbol into an hourglass in Ukrainian colours. The message is simple: Russias time on Ukraines territory is running out.

The Yellow Ribbon movement claims that 8,000 people in the occupied territories are using its chatbot, which sends out instructions on different protests. People are asked to upload photos and videos of their actions, so organisers know they are active. The chatbot is intended to preserve everyones anonymity.

Sometimes it is hard to trust because you know anyone could just tell the Russians you are a local partisan and it would be really hard for your family, Ivan said.

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Read the original:
It was scary: acts of resistance in Russian-occupied Kherson - The Guardian

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We will continue to stand with our Ukrainian partners in response to of Russias continued war of aggression.

Pursuant to a delegation of authority from President Biden, I am authorizing our 36th drawdown of U.S. arms and equipment for Ukraine valued at $325 million. This security assistance package includes more ammunition for U.S.-provided HIMARS and artillery rounds, as well as anti-armor systems, small arms, logistics support vehicles, and maintenance support essential to strengthening Ukraines defenders on the battlefield. This new security assistance will enable Ukraine to continue to bravely defend itself in the face of Russias brutal, unprovoked and unjustified war.

Russia could end its war today. Until Russia does, the United States and our allies and partners will stand united with Ukraine for as long as it takes.

Link:
Additional U.S. Security Assistance for Ukraine - United States ... - Department of State