Poland urges Europe to halt coal imports from Russia

WARSAW

Poland’s prime minister on Wednesday called on European countries to stop coal imports from Russia.

Mateusz Morawiecki said Poland is looking to freeze coal imports from Russia and wants Europe to follow a similar path.

“Today, I spoke to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison about coal supplies that will meet most of Poland’s needs,” he said.

Meanwhile, Poland’s currency, the zloty, has slumped to the weakest level against the euro since 2009 due to the war in Ukraine.

It traded at 4.8 zloty per euro as of Wednesday, down from 4.5 zloty when Russia’s war on Ukraine started on Feb. 24.

According to reports, Poland’s central bank plans to sell euro reserves to prop up the zloty.

The international community has reacted with fury since Russia launched its war on Ukraine last week.

Besides sanctions and Moscow’s exclusion from the international payment system SWIFT, the US, UK, EU and its members have also supplied Ukraine with weapons, shut airspace for Russian airlines, and banned Russian state-run media.​​​​​​​

Over 2,000 civilians have been killed since the start of the war, according to Ukrainian authorities, while the UN Refugee Agency estimates more than 874,000 people have fled from Ukraine to neighboring countries.