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Ambassador Melnyk (photo from March)
Photo: IMAGO/Christian Spicker
"We hope that what has now been seen will finally be understood in Germany too": The Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, Andriy Melnyk, has expressed his incomprehension at the atrocities in the Kiev suburb of Bucha.
“Putin is waging a war of annihilation.
Not only against the Ukrainian state, but also against the Ukrainians, against the civilians,« said the top diplomat in an interview with the »Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung«.
Melnyk rejected hopes that the two states and their citizens could soon come closer again.
»I will say it very clearly: Russia is an enemy state for us.
And all Russians are enemies of Ukraine at the moment.” That could change, but right now there is no time to ask: “Are you against Putin or for him?”
When asked that such rhetoric would probably not end the war, Melnyk expressed hopelessness with regard to resistance from Russian society.
"We have no illusions, also in relation to the so-called Russian opposition," said the ambassador.
"Regardless of whether at the top of power or in the opposition: Ukraine was, is and will probably remain an enemy of Russian society for a long time." .
Cancellation of Russian-Ukrainian benefit concerts
Melnyk also defended his boycott of events at which Russians and Ukrainians act together for peace: "As long as Russia's war is raging on our soil with such cruelty, I can't imagine people celebrating together."
"It can't be about distinguishing between bad Russians and good Russians now," said the ambassador to joint performances by cultural workers.
It was not Putin who murdered the people in Bucha.
»These were concrete people from different regions of Russia.
They have their relatives, they phone home, they loot houses.”
Melnyk recently turned down an invitation to a solidarity concert organized by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the end of March and described it as an "affront".
Shortly thereafter, in an interview, he criticized the attitude of the Federal President towards Russia: "For Steinmeier, the relationship with Russia was and remains something fundamental, even sacred, no matter what happens." Steinmeier then admitted his own mistakes in dealing with Russia.
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