Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired several of Kyiv’s top envoys abroad, including the country’s outspoken ambassador to Germany.
The leader announced the dismissal of the Ukrainian ambassadors to Germany, India, the Czech Republic, Norway and Hungary and said that new candidates were being prepared for these positions.
“This rotation is a normal part of diplomatic practice,” he said in a statement. It was not clear whether the envoys would be assigned new positions.
Mr Zelensky urged his diplomats to rally international support and military aid for Ukraine as it tries to repel Russia’s February 24 invasion.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has fired five of the country’s top envoys abroad, including the outspoken ambassador to Germany
(Press Office of the President/EPA)
Kyiv’s relations with Germany, which is heavily dependent on Russian energy supplies and is also Europe’s largest economy, are particularly sensitive.
Andriy Melnyk, who was appointed by Zelensky’s predecessor as ambassador to Germany in late 2014, is well known among politicians and diplomats in Berlin.
The 46-year-old regularly engages in outspoken conversations on social media and has branded politicians and intellectuals who oppose arming Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion as appeasers.
Andrii Melnyk regularly engages in outspoken exchanges on social media and has labeled politicians and intellectuals opposed to arming Ukraine to fight Russian invasion as pacifists
(AFP via Getty Images/Pool)
He once accused German Chancellor Olaf Scholz of behaving like an “insulted sausage” when Mr Scholz did not immediately accept the Ukrainian president’s invitation to visit Kyiv.
Kyiv and Berlin are currently at loggerheads over a German turbine undergoing maintenance in Canada.
Germany wants Ottawa to return the turbine to Russian natural gas giant Gazprom to pump gas to Europe, but Kyiv has urged Canada to keep the turbine, saying a return would violate sanctions against Moscow.
Canada said Saturday it would return the turbine.
Russian missiles hit the eastern Ukrainian town of Chasov Yar, destroying a five-story apartment building and killing at least six people, the region’s governor said Sunday.
Pavlo Kirilenko, the governor of Donetsk region, said more than 30 people may be trapped in the rubble.
Rescuers have contacted two people who are under the wreckage, he said on the Telegram messaging app.
Donetsk Oblast is one of two provinces, along with Luhansk, that make up the Donbass region, where separatist rebels have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014. Last week, Russia captured the city of Lysychansk, the last major stronghold of the Ukrainian resistance in Luhansk.
Russian forces are raising “real hell” in the Donbass, despite estimates that they have taken an operational pause, Luhansk Governor Sergey Haidai said.
Additional accountability from agencies
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