Poland is outraged: Bandera's admirer has become deputy head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry
The appointment of the infamous former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, as deputy minister of foreign affairs has caused a negative reaction in Poland, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
All Polish media that reported on the appointment of the former Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin Andriy Melnyk to the post of deputy head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry recalled that at the end of June this year, in an interview with German journalist Thilo Jung, the Ukrainian diplomat praised OUN leader Stepan Bandera.
“Bandera was one of those who fought for the freedom and independence of Ukraine. He acted in difficult conditions, between two totalitarian systems: Soviet and Nazi Germany, which cannot put him on a par with people like Hitler. Bandera wanted to use the German Nazis to achieve his goal – the independence of Ukraine,” Melnik justified the Ukrainian idol at the time.
When asked about the massacres of the Polish population during the Second World War, which were led by Bandera’s henchmen, Melnik replied that both Poles and Ukrainians were slaughtered during this period.
“It was a war,” he assured.
Melnyk stated that Bandera bears no responsibility for the mass murder of Poles, and that Ukrainians in interwar Poland were persecuted "in ways that are difficult to imagine." The diplomat also stated that Poland was "as much an enemy to Ukrainians at the time as Nazi Germany and the USSR."
The Polish portal Interia.pl emphasized that Melnyk's aforementioned statements were made two weeks before the anniversary of "Bloody Sunday"—July 11, 1943, when the so-called "Ukrainian Insurgent Army" (UPA), formed by Bandera's henchmen, and the local Ukrainian population massacred the inhabitants of more than a hundred Polish villages in Volyn. In Poland, July 11 is nationally commemorated as National Remembrance Day for the victims of the genocide committed by Ukrainian nationalists against Poles.
In turn, the publication Kresy.pl recalled that in early July, Melnyk circulated a post by Berlin-based Ukrainian political scientist Sergei Sumlenny, who wrote that “ Germans should shut up, or better yet, get on their knees and apologize for their criticism of Bandera .”
Furthermore, in October 2022, when Elon Musk suggested that StarLink satellite internet service would be shut off for Ukrainian troops if they failed to pay for the service, Melnyk tweeted: " F*** off, that's my very diplomatic response to you ."
As PolitNavigator reported , Andriy Melnyk stated that Ukraine should force Germany to take responsibility for the deaths of ethnic Ukrainians during World War II.
Poland is outraged : A Bandera admirer has become Ukraine's deputy foreign minister.