Melnyk thanked President Volodymyr Zelensky, Kuleba and the entire Ukrainian government for their trust. “It is a great honor and an enormous responsibility to serve my homeland in this new, very important function after more than 25 years of my work in the diplomatic service.” He is “really” looking forward to the new task.
Melnyk was replaced in October after almost eight years as ambassador by the government’s former sanctions officer, Oleksii Makeievv. He returned to Kyiv not knowing exactly which post he would take. However, Melnyk had long been under discussion as deputy foreign minister.
The 47-year-old career diplomat became ambassador to Germany in January 2015 and made a name for himself with an unusually tough stance against the German government for a diplomat. In the period shortly before and after the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, he called for more support for his country on an almost daily basis and was sharply criticized for his undiplomatic manner. Even after his departure, he continued to comment on German politics via Twitter.