Zelenskyy appoints Yurii Tokar as Ukraine’s ambassador to Somalia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appointed Yurii Tokar, Ukraine’s ambassador to Kenya, as the country’s ambassador to Somalia concurrently.
13 August, 2026
The appointment was made under a presidential decree dated 11 August, according to the Ukrainian News Agency.
The decree states that Tokar has been appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Federal Republic of Somalia on a concurrent basis.
Tokar, 49, has served as Ukraine’s ambassador to Kenya since July 2025. He was also appointed ambassador to the Union of the Comoros concurrently in July 2026.
He previously served as Ukraine’s consul general in Wrocław, Poland, from 2022 to 2025. Between 2014 and 2019, he headed the consular section of Ukraine’s embassy in the United States.
Ukraine formally established diplomatic relations with Somalia in April 2025.
At the time, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Kyiv valued Somalia’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The appointment comes as Ukraine continues to expand its diplomatic engagement in Africa. The rights and interests of Ukrainian citizens in Somalia have previously been handled by Ukraine’s embassy in Kenya.
Ukraine has also provided humanitarian assistance to the region. In September 2022, it allocated 50,000 tonnes of wheat as aid to Ethiopia and Somalia.
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