Army is forced to eat Polish potatoes – Rybalko
5 December 2025 14:24
Ukraine cannot fully cover the demand for potatoes, in particular for the Armed Forces, due to a lack of storage facilities, unstable yields, and the absence of systematic irrigation. As a result, the Ukrainian army, like most consumers, is forced to eat imported potatoes, mostly Polish. This was stated by Serhiy Rybalko, a member of the Board of Directors of the Ukrainian Association of Potato Producers, in an interview with the YouTube channel "Komersant Ukrainian".
“We are importers of potatoes. Our exports are many times less than imports. And today the army eats Polish potatoes. And this is a big problem,” he emphasized.
The contractor who supplies potatoes to the Armed Forces needs a clear and uniform supply of the product throughout the year, Rybalko continued. This is currently impossible, he added.
“And the potato producer has no storage facilities. He does not have a stable harvest. He has no irrigation,” he emphasized.
Rybalko also added that Poland is not the only supplier of potatoes to Ukraine.
“We import potatoes from the Baltic countries. In some years, we can import from Germany. We even import high-quality potatoes from France,” he informed.
