REUTERS

Oleg Nikolenko has been appointed a new spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

"In high school, I was into foreign languages, history, and geography. Therefore, I first received a philological education and became a translator of English and Arabic, and later – a lawyer in international affairs," the MFA press service quoted Nikolenko as saying.

"I discovered the world of diplomacy in 2008, having won a competition for the post of attaché at the Ukrainian Embassy in Libya," he added.

"Since 2011, when a civil war broke out in Libya, my tasks have changed. Sometimes, in extreme circumstances, our embassy was engaged in the evacuation of Ukrainian citizens. I had to part with my wife and newborn son for the long 18 months. It was during this period that a conscious understanding came to me of the chosen profession's meaning," the diplomat noted.

He added that after coming back to Kyiv, he kept on dealing with North Africa and the Middle East.

"Then my professional path led me into the area of multilateral diplomacy. For the next five years I had the opportunity to work as spokesman for the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN," he stressed.

Read alsoMFA Ukraine rejects Russia's accusations of trying to "disavow Minsk agreements"While working at the UN, Nikolenko was elected to the post of Vice-Chairman of the UN Committee on Information. He took part in reforming the UN information policy in the context of countering the COVID-19 pandemic.

The former spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kateryna Zelenko, has been appointed Ambassador to Singapore.

According to UNIAN sources, the authorities had long decided to appoint Nikolenko to the position while the reshuffle was made only once Zelenko was appointed to the top post in the Embassy in Singapore.