Zelensky appoints ‘f-word’ envoy to Brazil
Former Ukrainian deputy foreign minister Andrey Melnik, who caused controversy during his tenure as Kiev’s envoy to Germany, has been named as his country’s new ambassador to Brazil, according to a decree published on President Vladimir Zelensky’s website.
Melnik lasted seven months as deputy foreign minister after being appointed to the role last November.
Prior to that, the 47-year-old had served as Kiev’s envoy to Germany for seven years, before he was sacked last July following a series of scandalous remarks.
During his time in Berlin, Melnik repeatedly accused the German government of being too slow to provide military assistance to Ukraine amid the conflict with Russia, despite Berlin being one of Kiev’s prime backers at the EU.
In May 2022, he labeled German Chancellor Olaf Scholz an “offended liver sausage” for his apparent unwillingness to visit Kiev, prompting some German MPs to call for Melnik’s expulsion. Scholz eventually traveled to Ukraine one month later.
Melnik also sparred with Elon Musk on Twitter, telling the SpaceX and Tesla CEO to “f**k off” over his plan for a peaceful settlement of the conflict with Russia.
Shortly before his dismissal as deputy foreign minister, Melnik defended Stepan Bandera – a controversial Ukrainian nationalist leader who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II.
The diplomat claimed on a German podcast that Bandera had nothing to do with the mass murder of Jews and Poles, comparing him to Robin Hood, who “is being revered by everyone” despite being someone who “didn’t act according to the law that was in force then.”
The remarks raised eyebrows in Germany, Poland and Israel, with Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry being forced to clarify that Melnik’s comments reflected his own views, rather than Kiev’s official position.
Melnik’s new post takes him to Brazil, which has adopted a neutral stance since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022. It has condemned Russia for launching its military operation, but has declined to provide military aid to Kiev or join international sanctions against Moscow.
“We need to work to create the space for negotiations [between Russia and Ukraine],” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said last month. Lula had earlier proposed to create a “peace club” of like-minded nations to mediate an end to the conflict.
