Status: 09.07.2022 8:14 p.m
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has recalled his country’s ambassador to Germany, Melnyk. For months, Melnyk had sharply criticized the federal government. Recently, however, he has been under increasing pressure himself.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk. That’s going out a decree of the President’s Office in Kyiv out. The Ukrainian embassy in Berlin declined to comment on the decree. When asked by the dpa news agency, a spokeswoman for the Federal Foreign Office said: “The Federal Foreign Office has not yet been notified of the ambassador’s dismissal.”
In addition to Melnyk, the Ukrainian ambassadors to Norway, the Czech Republic, Hungary and India were also recalled, according to the Presidential Office. Reasons or a future use of the diplomats were not initially mentioned. There had already been speculation about a possible dismissal of Melnyk. Several media reported last week that he could move to the Foreign Ministry in Kyiv.
Matthias Deiß, ARD Berlin, on the dismissal of the Ukrainian Ambassador Melnyk
Tagesschau 8:00 p.m., 9.7.2022
Also known for undiplomatic actions
Melnyk has been ambassador to Germany since January 2015 – an exceptionally long time for a diplomat. He had caused a stir in recent months with his sharp criticism of the federal government. Among other things, he accused Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and his ministers of being too hesitant to deliver weapons to fight the Russian attackers in Ukraine.
Melnyk did not shy away from very clear words. As Scholz after Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was uninvited initially canceled a trip to Kyiv, called Melnyk Scholz an “offended liver sausage”, but later apologized for it.
Melnyk accused the Federal President of being too close to Russia. Steinmeier had been making a “spider web of contacts” for decades – Melnyk literally told the “Tagesspiegel”. According to “Spiegel”, the ambassador described the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael Roth, as an “asshole”.
Criticism for statements about Bandera
Last week he himself came under massive criticism for his statements about the Ukrainian nationalist and anti-Semite Stepan Bandera. Bandera was the leader of the radical wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) during World War II. Nationalist partisans from western Ukraine were responsible for ethnically motivated expulsions in 1943, in which tens of thousands of Polish and Jewish civilians were murdered.
In an interview with journalist Tilo Jung, Melnyk denied that Bandera was a mass murderer of Jews and Poles. The nationalist was deliberately demonized by the Soviet Union. The Israeli embassy then accused the ambassador of “distorting historical facts, playing down the Holocaust and insulting those who were murdered by Bandera and his people”. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has distanced itself from Melnyk’s statements.
After days of silence, Melnyk rejected the accusation that his statements about Bandera played down the Holocaust. “Anyone who knows me knows: I have always condemned the Holocaust in the strongest possible terms,” Melnyk wrote on Twitter. The allegations against him are “absurd”.
Göring-Eckardt: “Tireless voice for free Ukraine”
Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt paid tribute to Melnyk after his dismissal became known. “Andriy Melnyk has worked with all his might for his country. He is an unmistakable and tireless voice for a free Ukraine,” said the Green politician, but emphasized that she did not agree with Melnyk when it came to Bandera as a person. “Regardless of that, I wish him all the best for himself personally, for his future service and above all for his country.”
Melnyk had recently admitted errors in his communication. He could understand criticism of his person, he told the “Schwäbische Zeitung”. “In retrospect, I regret many emotional statements.” The Ukrainian Embassy in Berlin published the interview on its website on Friday. With regard to the Russian attack on his country, Melnyk said: “My job here in Germany as a diplomat is becoming political. (…) Even if I don’t want it to be.” His task is “that people here in Germany understand what the bloodiest war on our continent since the Second World War means.”