The outgoing Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk looks wistfully at his imminent departure from Germany. Formally, his term of office will “probably end in a few weeks,” said Melnyk on Sunday the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (Paid content). Then he and his family would return to Ukraine. “Germany remains in our hearts,” said the ambassador. “It’s hard for us to say goodbye.”
The Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree on Saturday with which he recalled diplomats from Germany and a number of other countries. It is a “simple rotation, as is customary,” assured Selenskyj. In addition to Melnyk, the ambassadors in the Czech Republic, Norway, Hungary, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were also ordered back to Kyiv.
Andrij Melnyk Ambassador to Germany since 2014
Melnyk has been ambassador in Berlin since December 2014. In view of the Russian war of aggression in his homeland, he had repeatedly sharply criticized Germany’s policy and accused the federal government of being too hesitant, especially on the question of arms deliveries.
He often caused a stir with his statements, for example when he called Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) an “insulted liverwurst” because he initially refused to travel to Kyiv after Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was uninvited.
Controversial interview on Stepan Bandera
Most recently, Melnyk made a name for himself with an interview in which he described the nationalist leader Stepan Bandera as a Ukrainian “freedom fighter” and denied his responsibility for the massacre of Jews and Poles in World War II. Bandera is one of the most controversial figures in Ukrainian history. He is considered by many Ukrainians to be a national hero who fought against Soviet rule in World War II. However, historians accuse him of his collaboration with the National Socialists.