The France ambassador to Ukraine, Etienne de Poncins, will leave his post in Kiev this summer for Warsaw, LeFigaro has learned, confirming information from Politico. Appointed to Kiev on July 29, 2019, he experienced the beginning of the Russian "special military operation". On February 28, he evacuated the embassy to Lviv, in the west of the country. "Thanks to the work of the GIGN, we were able to leave Kiev without a hitch despite some incidents approaching the Russian "checkpoints", he told Le Figaro, after the reopening of the premises of the embassy in Kiev on April 15. The evacuation had nevertheless been criticized in the press, with some employees denouncing an insufficiently prepared departure.
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A strategic appointment, as Poland has been giving voice since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Thus, Warsaw had insistently requested permission to deliver German Leopard 2 tanks to the Ukrainian armed forces. Long before the US green light to send F-16s to Kiev, Warsaw had sent Mig-29 fighters. But relations between the two countries have recently cooled, with Poland imposing a temporary embargo on imports of Ukrainian grain, which it accuses of destabilizing the price of its own grain.
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In Ukraine, he championed the concept of "first and last mile diplomacy." "We first listen carefully to Ukrainian needs. Then we send them to Paris, which gathers the requested resources. Finally we receive them here."
In November, Etienne de Poncins published Au cœur de la guerre (XO Éditions), a book that made the Quai d'Orsay and the embassy cringe, some judging that such publicity did not fall within the role of an ambassador.
A graduate of ENA in 1990, Jean Monnet promotion, he was ambassador to Bulgaria, Kenya and simultaneously to Somalia, before being appointed in 2019 in Kiev. For the time being, his successor is not known.
