After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ambassador Andriy Melnyk in Berlin emphatically campaigned for help for his country. He also sometimes makes a mistake in his choice of words. From now on, the diplomat will hold the post of deputy foreign minister in Kyiv.
The former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, has been appointed Deputy Foreign Minister. This decision was made by the Cabinet of Ministers in Kyiv, Ukrainian media reported, citing government representative in Parliament Taras Melnychuk.
Upon request, Melnyk confirmed the appointment. He thanked President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and the entire Ukrainian government for their trust. “It is a great honor and an enormous responsibility to serve my homeland in this new, very important position after more than 25 years of working in the diplomatic service.” He is looking forward to the new task “hugely”.
Melnyk became ambassador to Germany in January 2015 and has made a name for himself here with an unusually tough stance against the German government for a diplomat. In the first months of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, he became one of the most frequent guests on German talk shows. Melnyk constantly called for battle tanks and anti-aircraft guns and accused the German government of being hesitant.
“I think I’ve succeeded in getting Germans interested in Ukraine, in making sure that people here really recognize and understand Ukraine,” Melnyk said shortly before leaving Berlin.
Melnyk caused criticism during his tenure when, in an interview, he described the Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera as a Ukrainian “freedom fighter” and denied his responsibility for the massacres of Jews and Poles in World War II. He later admitted to the “Spiegel”: “You are right – the Bandera person should be re-examined”.
It was also left in negative memory when Melnyk called Chancellor Olaf Scholz an “insulted liverwurst” because he initially refused to travel to Kyiv after Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was uninvited. Melnyk returned to Kyiv in mid-October. Even after his departure, he continued to comment on German politics via Twitter. Melnyk’s successor as ambassador in Berlin is Oleksii Makeiev.