ARCHIV - 12.05.2022, Berlin: Andrij Melnyk, Botschafter der Ukraine in Deutschland, aufgenommen im Bundestag in Berlin. (zu dpa «Ukraine-Botschafter: Scholz soll bei Kiew-Besuch Panzer versprechen») Foto: Michael Kappeler/dpa +++ dpa-Bildfunk +++

Poland has denounced the statements made by the Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, Andriy Melnyk, about former nationalist leader Stepan Bandera (1909-1959). “Such an opinion and such words are absolutely unacceptable,” Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz told the Wirtualna Polska internet platform on Friday.

When asked whether Poland expected an apology from Melnyk, Przydacz said: “We are more interested in the position of the Ukrainian government than that of individuals.” Since the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has distanced itself from Melnyk’s statements, this is sufficient.

Bandera (1909-1959) was the ideological leader of the radical wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). Nationalist partisans from western Ukraine were responsible for ethnically motivated expulsions in 1943, in which tens of thousands of Polish civilians were murdered. Bandera fled to Germany after World War II, where he was murdered in 1959 by an agent of the Soviet secret service, the KGB.

Melnyk defended Bandera in an interview with the journalist Tilo Jung and said: “Bandera was not a mass murderer of Jews and Poles.” There is no evidence for that. As ambassador, Melnyk reports to the Foreign Ministry. Melnyk is also known in Germany for his criticism of the federal government’s Ukraine policy.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry then stated on its website: “The opinion of the Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, which he expressed in an interview with a German journalist, is his personal and does not reflect the position of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.” As Ambassador Melnyk reports to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Bandera was the ideological leader of the radical wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). Nationalist partisans from western Ukraine were responsible for ethnically motivated expulsions in 1943, in which tens of thousands of Polish civilians were murdered. Bandera fled to Germany after World War II, where he was murdered in 1959 by an agent of the Soviet secret service, the KGB.

Melnyk does not want to comment on the Foreign Ministry’s distancing statement on his statements. This was announced by a spokeswoman for the embassy in Berlin on Friday at the request of the German Press Agency.