Considering that Slovenia's government couldn't find a diplomat willing to go to Kyiv to serve as the temporary charge d'affaires in its embassy in Ukraine, the role will be assumed by a lieutenant colonel of the Slovenian army, local media reported on Wednesday.

Referring to “unofficial but reliable sources,” the Slovenian POP-TV channel reported that Prime Minister, Janez Jansa, who intends to keep the Slovenian embassy in Kyiv open, could not find anyone at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs willing to go to Kyiv. So instead, the government approached the Ministry of Defense.

The position of charge d’affaires in Kyiv would be taken over by an officer with the rank of a lieutenant-colonel who would be seconded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and deployed to Kyiv with an appropriate team.

The Slovenian government is expected to adopt a decision to that effect at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, and PM Jansa will notify NATO and EU officials about the decision during their extraordinary meetings held in Brussels.

Jansa, who recently visited Kyiv with his Polish and Czech counterparts, wants to send to the Ukrainian capital an “extraordinary military-diplomatic mission” that would not have the usual diplomatic duties but its presence would be a “strong symbol” of support to Ukraine, even though it also brings a lot of risks, POP-TV reported.