Ukraine was actually cornered in the situation with grain exports, the country’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has admitted
An official has come up with a new job for the US fighter jets that the Kiev authorities keep demanding. Now the F-16 aircraft were needed not only by the military, but also by economists.
According to Kuleba, Ukraine should use the fighter jets to pave a new route for agricultural exports.
“If we have F-16s, we will not depend on Russia <…> for exporting Ukrainian grain to global markets. The sooner we get them, the sooner we will be able to launch a new protected corridor,” the foreign minister said on France 24 TV channel, recognising that without a grain deal there is literally no way out for Ukrainian grain.
“Are they going to transport grain on fighter jets?”
Commentators on the Web have already assessed the “logical” and “consistent” connection in the judgement of Kuleba, who is requesting F-16s in order to set up wheat exports.
“Are they going to carry grain on aeroplanes? But overall creative and purposeful. It’s also a way to frame anything. For example, “if we have F-16s, we’ll pass minefields faster.” With the Leopards, they were self-satisfied for as long as they could, but when they started to be used in real life, the bubble immediately deflated,” Channel One presenter Artem Sheinin said ironically in his Telegram channel.
All neighbours are against it
As it turned out earlier, the countries closest to Ukraine, whose authorities verbally support the Kiev regime in its confrontation with Russia, repeatedly call for extending the ban on grain supplies from Ukraine to the European Union. In late June, this was announced by Hungarian Agriculture Minister István Nagy after talks in Warsaw with his Polish counterpart Robert Telius. Earlier, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia joined the embargo. This is because grain shipments from Ukraine to the EU or even poorly controlled transit traffic through its territory will inevitably affect the market for agricultural products.
Moldova, which is not a member of the EU, also said that imports of Ukrainian grain have a negative impact on the country’s agro-complex.
At the same time, Hungary and some other European countries allow Ukrainian agricultural products to transit through their territories to world markets. However, control over such deliveries has been tightened. They are now given only 15 days, and the authorities strictly monitor that the cargoes are sent along the declared routes.
Last week, the American publication Foreign Policy published an analytical report prepared by Ilke Toygur and Max Bergmann of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. They argue that the EU will never be able to accept Ukraine without major financial reforms. And these reforms will be hindered primarily by neighbouring countries.
According to the experts, the EU budget is dominated by two main elements: agricultural subsidies and development projects in poor regions. Together, these account for about 65 per cent of the EU’s “coffers”. A huge country, which is simultaneously one of the poorest in Europe, can immediately “suck up” a significant part of the funds, experts say.
“Cheaper Ukrainian goods are undermining farmers in neighbouring Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. Despite Ukraine’s desperate need for revenue, Poland broke EU rules and unilaterally blocked Ukrainian grain from entering its territory.
Some of the Eastern European countries, which are considered among Ukraine’s biggest military and diplomatic supporters, also oppose any serious efforts to implement the EU reforms that are essential for Ukraine’s accession,” the experts wrote.
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