Ukraine fires its ambassador to the UK for criticizing Zelensky's 'bad sarcasm'

The Ukrainian ambassador to the United Kingdom, Vadim Pristaiko, has been removed from office days after releasing a statement in which he criticized the “bad sarcasm” of the President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, to some comments from London.

Last week, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace advised the Ukrainian authorities to be more grateful to the Western powers for the steady supplies of arms and financial support sent since the outbreak of the war.

In response, Zelensky questioned what exactly Wallace wanted, sarcastically noting that he would give thanks to the British representative every morning.. “We can thank the minister personally every morning,” he said.

Pristaiko then considered that this exchange of statements was counterproductive to the interests of Ukraine, even more so considering that London has been one of kyiv's main allies since February 2022, when Moscow began the invasion.

Pristaiko has represented Ukrainian interests in London for the past three years. Before that he had held the post of Deputy Prime Minister as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.