Does Ukraine have a strong case?

As the United Nations holds its General Assembly, President Zelensky, speaking before the Security Council, said that Russia should lose its veto power as he criticized the UN for failing to prevent, moreover resolve, conflicts and must instead show unity in the face of Russia’s continued “aggression.”

On top of this, three NATO allied nations and neighbors – namely Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – have all been sued by Ukraine at the World Trade Organization for violating their trade obligations. It has been said that Ukraine’s argument is predominantly technical as these three countries are all members of the EU and based on the rules, members cannot decide their own trade policy as the European Commission decides this for them.

Kyiv says that any individual ban is illegal and it is now up to the WTO to decide but, beyond the lawsuit, however, it is noteworthy to mention the observed political implications at hand, as countries such as Poland and Slovakia are about to have their own elections in the near future and they simply cannot afford to isolate farmers.

Ukraine has an export problem, where most of their food grain used to be shipped via the Black Sea and currently the route is a no go. As Ukraine cannot use the sea, they have resorted to using overland routes and selling more food grain to their neighbors, who are no longer happy about this setup as food grains from Ukraine are flooding European markets, which means prices are dropping and farmers are losing money in terms of their produce. This was when Hungary, Poland and Slovakia decided to act by banning food imports from Ukraine, which then resulted to Kyiv taking legal action.

A bold move indeed as perceived by many on the part of Ukraine, considering Poland