“Ukraine has a few hours left”: Ambassador Melnik spoke about the German Finance Minister/Profile
On the morning of February 24, when Putin launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine, some German politicians acted as if Ukraine had already lost. In particular, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner.
Then, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said with a polite smile that Ukraine had only a few hours left. Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk spoke about this in an interview.
“It was a knockout”: Melnyk about his conversation with Lindner after the offensive
Lindner believed that Russia would quickly occupy Ukraine and install its own puppet government. According to Melnyk, the official sat with “such a polite smile” and spoke as if the defeat of the Ukrainians was already a foregone conclusion.
You only have a few hours. Supplying weapons or excluding Russia from SWIFT is pointless. he said.
The Ambassador of Ukraine to Germany said that these words brought him to tears.
I had a feeling that he was looking more at balance than on our suffering. But maybe he should. as finance minister. Anyway, for me it was a knockout. Then I ended the conversation. I don’t cry often, but after talking with Christian Lindner, tears just flowed down my face,” Melnyk said.
Meanwhile, German Economy and Energy Minister Robert Habeck, who demanded weapons for Ukraine back in the summer, was devastated. Melnik said that that morning he was “bitter and ashamed that he had allowed his party to crush him.”
