One of the main instruments for recovery of the Ukrainian agricultural sector is the imposition of sanctions against Russian and Belarusian agricultural producers. This was recently said by the head of the Ukrainian Agrarian Council (UAC), Andriy Dykun, at the Rebuilding Ukraine's Agriculture conference in Brussels.
The Ukrainian official also assured European farmers that the Ukrainian agricultural sector does not need subsidies from the European Union, and that a Ukrainian EU membership will only strengthen trade relations between countries and global food security.
“Ukraine does not claim any subsidies. We need your support, weapons to defend our country, not subsidies for the Ukrainian agricultural industry; "It has always worked efficiently so far, even without subsidies," says Dykun.
In addition, Ukrainian President Zelensky on Thursday called on European Union leaders to keep their promises to supply more military equipment to his war-ravaged country. The country says it needs more equipment as soon as possible.
Last month, several EU countries started banning food and grocery imports from Russia and Belarus. Until now, most food and agricultural products were not covered by European sanctions imposed several years ago against the seizure of the Crimean peninsula. Even when those sanctions were extended, many Russian agricultural exports were still excluded, but that is now starting to change.
The EU countries decided last week to impose restrictive measures against two more Russian individuals and four entities that undermine or threaten Ukraine. In total, the Russia boycott now applies to more than 2,200 individuals, companies and institutions. This involves an asset freeze and EU citizens and companies are prohibited from entering into financial transactions with them.
In addition, a travel ban applies to natural persons, which means that they cannot enter or travel through the EU territory. In addition, the Russian supply of LNG is now also subject to the sanctions regime.
In the week in which the European Union started official accession negotiations with Ukraine, import duties are being imposed on some agricultural products for the first time. Brussels will activate the “emergency brake” that has been threatening for some time for the first time, including for chickens and eggs.
At the beginning of this year, after the insistence of France and Eastern European countries, Brussels therefore set a maximum quota based on previous deliveries in the second half of 2021 and throughout 2022 and 2023. The new scheme came into effect on June 6, 2024 and barely the limit was reached two weeks later.