| Welcome to the weekend issue of Brussels Edition, Bloomberg's daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union. Join us on Saturdays for deeper dives from our bureaus across Europe. KYIV — Ukrainians have rallied around the former comedian who became their unlikely wartime leader, but Volodymyr Zelenskiy's recent spat with Poland unsettled some of his citizens. After Poland unilaterally banned purchases of Ukrainian grain, Zelenskiy told the United Nations that "some in Europe" were helping Moscow by igniting the grain dispute, and Kyiv has threatened to file a World Trade Organization complaint against Warsaw. After President Andrzej Duda's harsh retort, comparing Ukraine to a drowning man, some Ukrainians upbraided Zelenskiy for deepening the dispute.  Tains with Ukrainian grain stored in wagons in Dorohusk station at the Polish-Ukrainian border. Photographer: Damien Simonart/AFP/Getty Images Ukraine's "position was not carefully thought through, it is short-sighted," Viktor Dovhan, a former deputy minister of infrastructure who's now a transportation consultant, said in an interview. "What are we arguing about? If we look at our statistics, it is just a few percents of our exports. We'd rather discuss with Poles the expansion of crossing points, the building of new terminals, the launch of new railway connections, the easing of truck transit regulation." Andrey Stavnitser, a well-known businessman who sponsors a charity in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv that helps wounded soldiers, was even harsher. "Let's become adults. Nobody owes anyone anything," he wrote on Facebook. "Poland can do anything with its borders and its import policy that it thinks it should because it's their borders. And we can ask Poland not to do something but to be offended by their rejection and to happily sling mud on them is very infantile." For most of Russia's invasion, now into its 20th month, Warsaw has been Kyiv's most vocal supporter, and is hosting some 2 million Ukrainian refugees. Poland is seen as the most friendly country by 94% of Ukrainians, according to a June survey by Rating Group. That's higher than even the US and UK, which are providing essential military support. But with Poland in full campaign mode ahead of parliamentary elections on Oct. 15, Warsaw has taken a more populist tone, blaming Ukraine for the country's own economic distress. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki warned Zelenskiy during one rally to "never again offend the Poles." The divide deepened after Zelenskiy and Duda didn't meet at the UN, but the Ukrainian leader stopped over at Poland's Rzeszow airport on the way back from the US to present two Polish volunteers with state awards. In a leak to the well-sourced Dziennik Gazeta Prawna newspaper, an unnamed official close to the Polish president called the ceremony a nail in the coffin for their political friendship.  Mateusz Morawiecki seen in front of bulk carrier ship at the Sea Port of Gdynia. Photographer: Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images Zelenskiy's critics at home say it's time for Ukraine and its leader to be more politically astute and to shrug off Poland's overheated election rhetoric. "Poles are also tired. Some socially unprotected Poles think that Ukrainians are stealing their jobs, that some Ukrainians are using benefits," said Dovhan. "Ukraine should not throw fuel on that bonfire by saying that it will sue Poland." The stakes couldn't be higher for Kyiv. As Stavnitser noted, "At the end of the day, we depend on Polish airports via which we get arms." — Daryna Krasnolutska, Kyiv bureau chief | 
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