Ukraine’s ambassador to Berlin, Andrey Melnik, has refused to apologize to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for comparing him to an “offended liverwurst” over his reluctance to visit Kiev.
The abrasive Melnik’s comments follow a phone call on Thursday between President Volodomyr Zelensky and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, which was apparently organized to resolve a war of words over Steinmeier’s supposed “pro-Russia” leanings.
“I believe the problem that was supposedly on the way was cleared up in that phone call yesterday [between the Ukrainian and German presidents]. So, it’s not a matter of apologizing. It’s not about whether someone feels offended or not, it’s about whether they will help us to save people,” Melnik said in an interview with radio station Deutschlandfunk on Friday.
“The point is that we pursue the right policy these days. As I said, this is something that is not yet clear to us, why do people here continue telling fairy tales instead of quickly helping us? We are not told anything at all,” he added.