Zelenskyy dismisses Ukraine's envoy to Germany Melnyk

Read also: Ukrainian embassy in Berlin conducting ‘wartime diplomacy,’ says ambassador

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on July 9 signed dismissal decrees for Melnyk and the Ukrainian ambassadors to Hungary, the Czech Republic, Norway, and India.

Read also: Ambassador Melnyk on why Berlin is so reluctant to free itself from Russian dependence

The decrees have been posted on the presidential website.

Apart from Melnyk, the decrees name Ambassador to Hungary Liubov Nepop, Ambassador to Norway Vyacheslav Yatsyuk, ambassador to the Czech Republic Yevhen Perebyinis, and Igor Polikha, Ukraine's Ambassador to India and concurrently to the Republic of the Maldives, the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, and the People's Republic of Bangladesh.

Earlier, German tabloid Bild reported that Melnyk might take a new position at Ukraine's Foreign Ministry in Kyiv.

Read also: How Olaf Scholz became Germany’s antihero, blocking the supply of heavy weapons to Ukraine

Bild's source in the Ukrainian government said that the Foreign Ministry had submitted such a motion to Zelenskyy. According to the source, Melnyk is highly appreciated in Kyiv for his work and his move from Berlin to Kyiv will not be considered a dismissal.

Melnyk was appointed Ukraine's Ambassador to Germany in December 2014, during the presidency of Petro Poroshenko.

Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, Melnyk has sharply criticized the German government and Chancellor Olaf Scholz in particular for delaying the supply of weapons to Ukraine.