Melnyk dismissed from post of Ukraine ambassador to Germany
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issues a decree dismissing Ukraine's ambassador to Germany Andrij Melnyk following numerous controversial comments.
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Former Ambassador of Ukraine to Germany Andrey Melnyk
According to a decree posted on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's official website, Andrij Melnyk, a controversial diplomat known for calling German Chancellor Olaf Scholz an "offended liver sausage," was removed from his position as ambassador to Germany on Saturday.
"To dismiss Melnyk Andrij Yaroslavovich from the post of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Federal Republic of Germany," the decree said.
A few days ago, Melnyk had praised Stepan Bandera, a Ukrainian fascist, anti-Semite, and Nazi collaborator, in a recent appearance on the podcast "Jung & Naiv."
Melnyk defended the World War II figure in an interview with German journalist Tilo Jung on Thursday, asserting that "Bandera was not a mass murderer of Jews and Poles" and that there was no proof to support such claims.
Not only did he hail Bandera as a "freedom fighter," but he also refuted claims that the OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) battalions he oversaw committed mass murder, saying, "There is no evidence that Bandera troops massacred hundreds of thousands of Jews."
The German journalist had quoted an OUN leaflet that was distributed when the Nazi Wehrmacht reached Lvov. It said: "People, you must know this: Muscovites, Poles, Hungarians, and Jews, these are your enemies. Destroy them, you must know that. Your leadership, your leader, Stepan Bandera."
'Olaf Scholz is not sausage' - German lawmaker
German daily Die Welt had reported that some Berlin officials have stood up for Chancellor Olaf Scholz after he was insulted by the Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, who called Scholz an "offended liverwurst".
Bundestag MP Sevim Dagdalen demanded the ambassador's expulsion from Germany, saying "Whoever doesn’t expel the supporter of Nazism Melnyk now has lost all self-respect."
The Vice President of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), Wolfgang Kubicki, had also supported Scholz, saying Melnyk needs to respect Scholz's status as the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Also, the deputy chairman of the Bundestag's CDU faction, Johann Wadeful, called Melnyk's statement "inappropriate and unreasonable."
Ukraine's ambassador had repeatedly demanded that Berlin provide Kiev with weapons, made claims that the EU did not move forward with an embargo on Russian energy carriers, and said he considers all Russians to be enemies.
He accused the German President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier of having a "whole web" of contacts with Russia, which explains why Ukraine snubbed his visit.
Ukrainian ambassador to German intellectuals: "Go to hell", "loosers"!
Following Andrij Melnyk's sausage episode, he told 21 German intellectuals calling for an end to arms deliveries to Ukraine to "go to hell."
The signatories that signed the open letter were called on the West to make Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky negotiate peace.
He went on to call the signatories "pseudo-intellectual loosers (sic)."
Addressing some of the intellectuals with their last names, he wrote they “should go to hell with [their] defeatist advice.”
