By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday dismissed the country’s ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk.
The envoy was recalled over a recent remark in which he defended Stepan Bandera, a Ukranian who was believed to have collaborated with the Nazis when they occupied Ukraine during World War II.
Melnyk said in an interview that Bandera, a leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists during the war, was not a mass murderer of Jews and Poles.
Melnyk’s remarks however attracted widespread criticism from Germany, Poland and Israel.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry also distanced itself from Melnyk’s remarks, saying in a statement that Melnyk’s remarks did “not reflect the position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.”
