Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has dismissed his country's ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk.

This emerged from a decree published by the President's Office in Kyiv on Saturday.

So far there has been talk of Melnyk giving up his post in Berlin in early autumn and becoming deputy foreign minister in Kyiv.

The decree does not mention this, only his dismissal.

The diplomat, who speaks fluent German, is well connected and has been his country's ambassador to Germany since 2015, was recently criticized for statements about the Ukrainian nationalist and anti-Semite Stepan Bandera.

"Question of Rotation"

The Ukrainian ambassadors to Norway, Hungary, the Czech Republic, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have also been dismissed, according to decrees posted on the President's Office website.

Like Melnyk, you have been in office for at least five years, which means that you can expect to be dismissed due to the rotation principle.

A few days ago, Melnyk indicated to the FAZ that he expected the dismissal to be officially announced in July.

In the evening, the Ukrainian President called the recall of Ambassador Melnyk from Germany a normal process.

“Today I signed decrees dismissing some ambassadors of Ukraine.

This issue of rotation is a common part of diplomatic practice," he said in a video message on Saturday, without naming any of the five ambassadors.

"New representatives of Ukraine will be appointed for the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Norway and India," Zelenskyy said.

The candidates would be prepared by the State Department.