Melnyk Explained His Words about Bandera, Which Caused Stir in Germany

The dismissed Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andrii Melnyk, explained that he did not want to offend anyone with his words about Stepan Bandera and called the situation a "wrong move."

"I think I underestimated the emotional weight of this still extremely sensitive topic, especially for our Polish friends. It was a wrong move. I didn't want to offend anyone," Zeit quotes Melnyk.

He explained that by mentioning Bandera, he wanted to make clear that many Ukrainians perceive him positively. This historical figure cannot be considered in black and white tones, as depicted by Russian propaganda.

When asked why Melnyk laid flowers at Bandera's grave, he recalled that he did it only once - in 2015, two months after arriving in Germany as an ambassador.
"There are also many graves of Wehrmacht soldiers in Ukraine, and the German ambassador lays flowers there on the day of national memory. Ukrainians can ask: is this correct? The Wehrmacht was also involved in war crimes in Ukraine," said Melnyk.

In late June, in an interview with journalist Tilo Jung, the Ukrainian diplomat commented on the historical disputes between Poland and Ukraine regarding Stepan Bandera. Melnyk said, "There is no evidence that the Banderites murdered hundreds of thousands of Jews." And such claims are part of a "Russian narrative."

When Jung asked Melnyk how a figure responsible for mass murder could be a hero today in Ukraine, the ambassador just answered, "Bandera was not a mass murderer of Jews and Poles."

After that, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine explained that Melnyk's words were not the official position of Kyiv. Dmytro Kuleba had a telephone call with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Zbigniew Rau. And the Commissioner for Anti-Semitism of the Federal Government of Germany, Felix Klein, called on Ukraine to join the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.