Ukraine has dismissed its ambassador to Kazakhstan over his comments in August about killing Russians.
The presidential website said in a statement that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed a decree on October 18 to officially dismiss Petro Vrublevskiy, who became engulfed in a scandal after saying in an interview with noted Kazakh blogger Dias Kuzairov that "the more Russians we kill now, the fewer of them our children will have to kill in the future."
Moscow and Russian organizations in Kazakhstan demanded that Astana expel the diplomat for his controversial statement, but Kazakh authorities refused, though they did ask Kyiv to replace him.
Zelenskiy did not name a replacement in the decree.
Kazakhstan, which has aligned itself as Russia's economic ally, has not officially condemned Moscow's military aggression against Ukraine since it was launched in late February.