Agency Report –
The former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, has apologized for at times impulsive remarks made during his time in Berlin.
“That was a true state of emergency,” he told Germany’s Stern magazine with regard to the first months of the full-scale Russian war against Ukraine. “I often had to act very impulsively to persuade the Germans to help us.”
In doing so, he said he was not always able to find “well-considered words.”
“Therefore, I ask for forgiveness if I offended people because emotions were running high.”
Melnyk served as the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany from January 2015 to October 2022.
After the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, he repeatedly criticized the centre-left coalition government at the time with harsh words for what he saw as its hesitancy when it came to arms deliveries.
He once used a colourful German insult for then chancellor Olaf Scholz, whom he accused of sulking, or acting like a prima donna, literally “playing the insulted liver sausage” in German.
Nevertheless, Melnyk said he looks back on his time in Germany with great gratitude: “Germany is my second home – without exaggeration.”
Since January, he has been the Ukrainian ambassador to the United Nations in New York, where he said he also notices that he cannot live or act without emotions and passion.
