Ex-Foreign Ministry spokesperson appointed as Toronto consul general

Oleh Nikolenko, a former Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said on Facebook on March 11 that he had been appointed as Ukraine's consul general in Toronto.

Nikolenko, who had been a spokesperson for over three years, announced his resignation on March 8, saying he was about to start "a new diplomatic chapter."

"New responsibility. New opportunities to promote the interests of Ukraine and Ukrainians and bring the victory closer," Nikolenko wrote, thanking Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Nikolenko had previously worked as a spokesperson for the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations in New York and had been elected as a deputy chairman of the UN Committee on Information.

The reasons for the reshuffle are unknown, and no candidates for the position of a spokesperson for Ukraine's Foreign Ministry have been announced.

The ministry said on March 7 that Zelensky had approved Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the former commander-in-chief, to be the next Ukrainian ambassador to the U.K. The embassy in London, one of Ukraine's key allies, has been without an appointed ambassador since the summer of 2023.

As of March 2023, Ukraine had no ambassadors in 21 countries across the world.

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