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Andriy Melnyk
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa
After almost eight years in office as Ukrainian ambassador, Andriy Melnyk will leave Germany on October 14.
"I have to be in Kyiv (Kyiv) on October 15 to - it looks like - take a new post in the Foreign Ministry," Melnyk told the German Press Agency.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has already suggested that Melnyk become one of several deputy foreign ministers.
The government still has to decide on that.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recalled Melnyk from his post in mid-July.
Shortly before, the diplomat had caused criticism with statements about the controversial Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera, whom historians had accused of collaboration with the Nazis and shared responsibility for the murder of Poles and Jews in World War II – not only in Germany, but above all in Poland .
Melnyk is currently still carrying out official business.
It has been discussed for a long time that he should become the next deputy foreign minister.
His successor in Berlin is to be Oleksiy Makejev, who was political director at the Foreign Ministry in Kyiv for many years.
But there is still no official confirmation for this either.
Makeyev is expected to arrive in Berlin shortly after Melnyk leaves the capital.
Melnyk is also controversial because of his harsh criticism of the government's Ukraine policy.
In retrospect, however, he considers his often undiplomatic conduct of office to be correct.
“If I had stayed quietly and politely in Berlin during the last very dramatic months, there might not have been this huge discussion about – first missing, then insufficient – German arms deliveries for the Ukraine, as was the case in the first months after the beginning of the war was,” he told the dpa.
He recommends a dual strategy to his successor.
"He would have to be accepted as a diplomat as soon as possible, i.e. be nice and friendly, in order to win new sympathy for Ukraine, especially in view of the war weariness and this exaggerated debate about a cold winter," said Melnyk.
"On the other hand, I believe that he cannot avoid being uncomfortable and edgy and constantly challenging the sluggish German political elite." to find".
as/dpa