Grain embargo calls and a declaration petition: 13 September 2023
A look back at a day when Poland's prime minister pressed Brussels on Ukrainian grain while Ukrainians pushed their president on asset declarations.
What did Ukraine's partners and its own citizens want from Kyiv's political system on 13 September 2023? On that date, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called on the European Union to extend an embargo on imports of Ukrainian corn, wheat, sunflower and rapeseed.
The appeal put agricultural trade with a neighbour into the centre of the Russian invasion's political fallout. It concerned four commodities: corn, wheat, sunflower and rapeseed. Morawiecki directed his request at the EU as a whole rather than at Warsaw alone.
A domestic test for Zelenskyy
At home, the pressure was of a different kind. Days earlier, on 8 September 2023, tens of thousands of Ukrainians had signed a petition asking President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to veto legislation on asset declarations. Critics of the law believed it could prevent officials from being held accountable, because it delayed a requirement to declare their assets publicly.
The petition placed the question of anti-corruption on the president's desk, and it was still unresolved as of 13 September 2023.
Two pressures, one day
Taken together, the developments showed Ukraine's government facing scrutiny from two directions. Abroad, a neighbouring government sought to keep restrictions on Ukrainian farm exports. At home, citizens pressed for transparency from officials, even as the war continued. On 8 September 2023, Russia also said its air defences had shot down two Ukrainian drones over Skadovsk, in Kherson Oblast, during voting in Russian-run elections there.
