One of the main tools for the recovery and development of the agricultural sector in Ukraine is the imposition of sanctions against Russian and Belarusian agricultural producers.

This opinion was expressed by the head of the Ukrainian Agrarian Council (UAC) Andriy Dykun at the Rebuilding Ukraine's Agriculture conference in Brussels.

"Russia uses food as a weapon in its war against Ukraine. What did they do? They first blocked the Black Sea so that Ukrainian farmers could not export agricultural products, and then they took our market in China. Moreover, today a lot of equipment, machinery, seeds, and technologies are supplied to Russia from the European Union. Russia has invested millions of dollars to become independent in the food sector and develop its agricultural sector. Now it depends on European technologies. Therefore, one of the ways to stop Russia is to ban the export of these goods from the EU," his speech was quoted by the UAC press service.

The head of the association also assured European farmers that the Ukrainian agricultural sector does not need subsidies from the European Union, and Ukraine's membership in the EU will only strengthen trade relations between countries and global food security.

"Ukraine is not claiming subsidies. We need your support, weapons to defend the country, not subsidies for Ukrainian agribusiness because it has always worked efficiently without subsidies. We can increase soybean production for the EU, you can buy rapeseed from us for biofuel production. Ukraine is capable of producing more than 10 million tons of sugar and selling it to the EU. Likewise, the dairy sector can be beneficial for both sides. The EU does not have the potential for growth in cattle breeding and the dairy sector, but Ukraine does," Dykun said.