President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday dismissed several of Ukraine’s senior envoys abroad including the country’s ambassador to India, the presidential website said.
In a decree that gave no reason for the move, Zelenskiy announced the
sacking of Ukraine’s ambassadors to India, Germany, the Czech
Republic, Norway and Hungary.
It was not immediately clear if the envoys would be assigned new
positions.
Zelenskyy has urged his diplomats to drum up international support and military aid for Ukraine as it tries to fend off Russia’s February 24 invasion.
Kyiv’s relations with Germany, which is heavily reliant on Russian
energy supplies and also Europe’s biggest economy, are particularly
sensitive.
Andriy Melnyk, who was appointed by Zelenskyy’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 social media exchanges,
and has branded politicians and intellectuals who oppose arming
Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion as appeasers.
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He once accused German Chancellor Olaf Scholz of behaving like an
“offended liver sausage” when Scholz did not immediately accept an
invitation by Zelenskyy to visit Kyiv.
Kyiv and Berlin are currently at odds over a German-made turbine
undergoing maintenance in Canada. Germany wants Ottawa to return
the turbine to Russian natural gas giant Gazprom to pump gas to
Europe.
Kyiv has urged Canada to keep the turbine, saying shipping it to Russia
would be a violation of sanctions imposed on Moscow.
