New Ukraine ambassador for Germany: Melnyk's successor has probably been chosen
Created: 07/24/2022, 15:05
By: Christoph Gschossmann
He has been recalled as Ukraine's ambassador to Germany: Andrij Melnyk.
© imago-images
After Andrij Melnyk's dismissal as ambassador, a successor is now to be determined.
Melnyk caused a stir with controversial statements.
Berlin / Munich – Ukraine's new ambassador has probably been chosen: Andriy Melnyk's successor is Oleksiy Makeyev.
Melnyk was criticized for controversial statements and was dismissed by President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 9.
RTL
reports that Makejew should now follow him
.
The Foreign Office is only to be officially informed in two weeks.
He currently has another job: he works as a special representative for sanctions.
As the broadcaster reports, Makejev speaks German and English very well.
Makejev was born in 1975 and has therefore been in the diplomatic service since 1996.
He worked in Berlin and Bonn and headed the Political Department of the Foreign Ministry from 2014 to 2020.
Ukraine: What will happen to Andriy Melnyk?
However, what should happen to Melnyk remains unclear.
After seven years of service as Ukraine's ambassador to Germany, according to information from
Bild
, there are plans to move him to the Foreign Ministry.
According to government circles, it is said that Melnyk's dismissal does not amount to demotion, but that he can even be promoted and become deputy foreign minister.
Melnyk's end as ambassador also had nothing to do with his statements about the Ukrainian nationalist leader Stephan Bandera (1909-1959).
It is a "simple rotation, as is customary," assured Selenskyj.
Melnyk said there was "no evidence that Bandera's troops murdered hundreds of thousands of Jews."
The former ambassador still does not back down from his statements.
Bandera led the radical wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists.
The group was responsible for ethnically motivated expulsions, in which tens of thousands of Polish civilians are said to have lost their lives.
After escaping to Germany after World War II, he was murdered by the KGB.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry had distanced itself from Melnyk's statements.
They weren't the only ones who caused a stir during the Ukraine conflict - including those in the dispute with Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
(cg)
In the Ukraine war, an attack in Odessa causes a stir. Russia has now acknowledged this. The news ticker on negotiations and sanctions.