Ukraine dismissed five ambassadors in a diplomatic shakeup Saturday.
Ukraine’s ambassadors to Germany, India, Czech Republic, Norway and Hungary were given the boot, Ukraine’s presidential website revealed. The decree offered no explanation for the move.
It was not immediately clear if the envoys would be assigned new positions, but the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported Andriy Melnyk, who had served in Germany for more than 7 years, will be reassigned to another posting in Kyiv,
Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged his diplomats to drum up international support and military aid for Ukraine.
Kyiv’s relations with Germany, which relies heavily on Russian oil and natural gas to fuel Europe’s biggest economy, are particularly sensitive.
Melnyk, 46, won praise for his aggressive efforts to push for more German backing for the war — he once accused German Chancellor Olaf Scholz of behaving like an “offended liver sausage.”
But controversial comments last week from the outspoken ambassador, who was appointed by Zelensky’s predecessor, about Stepan Bandera, a Ukranian nationalist leader implicated in collaboration Nazi Germany during World War II, put him in the spotlight in a negative way.
With Post Wires