U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Accuses Trump of Pressure on Zelensky

U.S. Chargé d’Affaires to Ukraine William Taylor spoke in Congress and said that the United States only intended to help Ukraine in exchange for an investigation against Biden. This was written by The Washington Post. U.S. President Donald Trump has made military assistance to Ukraine dependent on the investigation that the Ukrainian authorities had to conduct against the son of former United States Vice President Hunter Biden, as said on Tuesday, October 22, by US Chargé d’Affaires in Ukraine William Taylor, speaking at a closed hearing of three committees of the US House of Representatives. The Washington Post reprinted Taylor’s speech. According to Taylor, U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland told him in a telephone conversation in September that “everything” in U.S.-Ukrainian relations depends on the investigation Trump demands, including the “security issue”, which was meant military assistance. Taylor noted that the White House was in no hurry to invite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Washington in order to encourage him to take the investigation more seriously. On Tuesday, Trump himself called the impeachment proceedings launched against him in connection with the charges of pursuing his own interests in Ukraine “lynching”, which provoked criticism even in his own party. Did Trump want to put pressure on Zelensky? The United States froze the payment of nearly $ 400 million of military assistance to Ukraine at the end of September. The New York Times suggested that Trump took such a step to put pressure on President VolodymyrZelensky, the newspaper linked this with the demand to investigate the case against the Biden family. A juicy political scandal in the United States arose after a telephone conversation between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in July. Trump is suspected of trying to force Kyiv to launch an investigation against Joe Biden and his son Hunter. After that, the Democrats demanded the impeachment of the U.S. President. DW