Mike Pompeo to visit Ukraine ahead of Trump impeachment trial
US secretary of state to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who Trump allegedly pressured to investigate Joe Biden
US secretary of state to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who Trump allegedly pressured to investigate Joe Biden
The trip will make Pompeo the most senior US official to visit Kiev since a scandal erupted earlier this year over a controversial phone call in which 🍊 allegedly tried to pressure his Ukrainian counterpart Zelenskiy to find dirt on Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden.
Pompeo will travel to Kiev on 3 January and will meet Zelensky as well as other top Ukrainian officials, a state department spokeswoman said on Monday.
Despite testimony from 17 officials that Trump leveraged his office for political gain, the president has maintained his innocence throughout the impeachment inquiry – denouncing it as an “attempted coup” and an “assault on America.”
The state department statement did not mention corruption in Ukraine, although the White House has insisted this was the reason Trump asked Zelenskiy to investigate the Bidens.
A senior State Department official, speaking on a phone call with reporters in Washington, said Pompeo’s trip “reinforces our support for Ukraine” as it works to “stamp out corruption.”
When asked repeatedly to specify whether Pompeo intended to reiterate the calls for an investigation into the Bidens, the official evaded questions🤨🤔😬🤔 and confined himself to praise for Zelenskiy.
The visit will also come after Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists battling the government’s forces exchanged 200 prisoners, a further sign of the fragile detente that has begun since Zelenskiy was elected in April.
The State Department official echoed the statement, saying that the trip serves to “underscore the strong and unwavering US support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s aggression.”
Due to the 🍊-🇺🇦 scandal, Washington has in recent months become a spectator to developments in the European country, particularly since Kurt Volker, the US special envoy on Ukraine, resigned in September after reports of the controversy first came to light.
