KIEV, Jan 31 — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said today Washington’s support for Ukraine was unwavering during a delicate visit to the country at the heart of the US impeachment process.

After talks with Pompeo, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he appreciated US support, but that Washington should be more involved in resolving his country’s conflict with Moscow-backed separatists.

Ukraine is walking a careful line in its relations with the United States — keen to maintain US backing in the war but wary of being further entangled in US domestic politics.

Advertisement

Pompeo is the most senior US official to visit Ukraine since the start of the impeachment process against US President Donald Trump, who is accused of withholding military aid to push Kiev into investigating his Democratic rival Joe Biden.

Pompeo said there could be no doubts about Washington’s support for Ukraine, calling it “a bulwark between freedom and authoritarianism in eastern Europe”.

“The United States sees that the Ukrainian struggle for freedom, democracy and prosperity is a valiant one. Our commitment to support it will not waiver,” he said at a press conference with Zelensky.

Advertisement

Zelensky, who allegedly faced the pressure from Trump in a July 25 phone call, called on Washington to “be more actively involved in the peace process in eastern Ukraine” and to appoint a special representative on the conflict.

Washington has been an important backer of Ukraine in its conflict with the separatists in the country’s east, providing both military aid and diplomatic support.

That support is at the centre of the impeachment process, with Trump accused of withholding US$400 million (RM1.6 billion) in assistance to demand dirt on Biden, whose son was on the board of a Ukrainian company.

Memorial to dead soldiers

A Senate trial of Trump is underway in Washington, but the Republican majority in the US upper house all but guarantees an acquittal. A vote to acquit could come as soon as today.

Pompeo is himself under pressure over Ukraine. He was among senior officials who listened in on the phone call with Zelensky and has been accused of not doing enough to defend Marie Yovanovitch, the former US envoy to Kiev who Trump removed last year.

Pompeo today also met with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko and the head of the newly independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Yepifaniy. 

He visited Kiev’s golden-domed Saint Michael’s Cathedral — torn down by the Soviet Union but rebuilt after Ukraine’s independence — and a memorial wall with photographs of soldiers killed in the conflict in the country’s east that broke out in 2014.

Washington’s support for Kiev has included not only military assistance but diplomatic backing, including the imposition of US sanctions against Russia following its 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Zelensky, a comedian with no previous political experience who won a landslide election victory last year, has made ending the conflict a key plank of his presidency.

The fighting with separatists in two mainly Russian-speaking breakaway regions has left more than 13,000 dead and crippled Ukraine’s economy. 

Efforts to resolve the conflict were largely frozen under Zelensky’s predecessor Petro Poroshenko, but the new president has taken several key steps since coming to power. 

Ex-Soviet tour

Forces from both sides have pulled back from several areas of the frontline, two exchanges have seen dozens of prisoners swapped and in December Zelensky met for the first time with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Paris. 

Russia is accused of backing the separatists and seeking to undermine Ukraine’s efforts to develop closer ties with the West. 

After Kiev, Pompeo was due to visit three more countries of the former Soviet Union, seeking to extend US influence in Russia’s traditional sphere.

He was to meet with senior officials including President Alexander Lukashenko in the Belarusian capital Minsk tomorrow, then travel on to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia. 

Asked about Pompeo’s tour on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov showed little concern.

“It is natural for the United States to have relations with these countries,” he told reporters. “And it is the sovereign right of every country to develop international relations.” — AFP

The visit, which was scheduled for early January but then delayed because of Middle East tensions, was expected to highlight US support for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia-backed separatists.

Pompeo said yesterday before flying to Kiev from London that he would “talk about how we can provide continuing support to the Ukrainian people from the aggressions that Russia has undertaken over the past handful of years.”

He has also vowed to back Ukraine’s efforts to root out corruption.

“(I will) talk about the important work that the United States and Ukraine will continue to do together to fight corruption inside of that country,” he told reporters Wednesday.

America will continue to “provide the support that the Ukrainian people need to ensure that they have a free and independent nation,” he said.

Pompeo will meet President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is at the centre of Trump’s historic impeachment trial for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. 

The Democratic prosecution team at the Senate trial has alleged Trump flagrantly tried to force Kiev to help him tarnish his possible election challenger, former vice president Joe Biden.

Key to the impeachment scandal is a July 25 telephone call in which Trump pushed Zelensky to announce an investigation of Biden.

Trump is accused of withholding nearly US$400 million (RM1.6 billion) in military aid for Ukraine in the war in the east of the country, and refusing Zelensky a White House meeting unless he opened the probe.

American financial and military aid is crucial for Kiev, and that is a reason why Ukraine was struggling not to be involved in the US campaign, trying to maintain support from both American major parties.

‘Very cautious’

“Pompeo will be very cautious, considering how sensitive this topic is,” Oleksiy Melnyk, a foreign policy analyst at the Razumkov Centre in Kiev, said regarding Trump’s alleged pressure on Ukraine’s leader.

Pompeo has declined to comment on whether he intends to raise the Biden subject during the visit.

“I do not want to talk about particular individuals. It is not worth it,” Pompeo said, adding that he will discuss Zelensky’s “committment” to fight corruption.

The secretary of state came under increased scrutiny last year when it emerged that he had been one of the senior administration officials listening in on Trump’s July 25 phone call with Zelensky.

Trump last year removed the ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, and denounced her in the call with Zelensky.

Former career diplomats accused Pompeo, a stalwart ally of Trump, of not robustly defending Yovanovitch either to the White House or in public.

Pompeo’s stance on Yovanovitch became a subject of his feud with journalists this week as a correspondent for National Public Radio in the United States has been excluded from the secretary of state’s plane, after a tense exchange between him and another NPR journalist.

Pompeo held talks with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko early Friday, and also met with the leader of the new independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church Metropolitan Yepifaniy. He is to brief reporters after the talks with Zelensky.

Early tomorrow, Pompeo will continue his trip in the region, heading to Belarus, and then to Central Asia’s Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. — AFP

The visit, which was scheduled for early January but then delayed because of Middle East tensions, was expected to highlight US support for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia-backed separatists.

Pompeo said yesterday before flying to Kiev from London that he would “talk about how we can provide continuing support to the Ukrainian people from the aggressions that Russia has undertaken over the past handful of years.”

He has also vowed to back Ukraine’s efforts to root out corruption.

“(I will) talk about the important work that the United States and Ukraine will continue to do together to fight corruption inside of that country,” he told reporters Wednesday.

America will continue to “provide the support that the Ukrainian people need to ensure that they have a free and independent nation,” he said.

Pompeo will meet President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is at the centre of Trump’s historic impeachment trial for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. 

The Democratic prosecution team at the Senate trial has alleged Trump flagrantly tried to force Kiev to help him tarnish his possible election challenger, former vice president Joe Biden.

Key to the impeachment scandal is a July 25 telephone call in which Trump pushed Zelensky to announce an investigation of Biden.

Trump is accused of withholding nearly US$400 million (RM1.6 billion) in military aid for Ukraine in the war in the east of the country, and refusing Zelensky a White House meeting unless he opened the probe.

American financial and military aid is crucial for Kiev, and that is a reason why Ukraine was struggling not to be involved in the US campaign, trying to maintain support from both American major parties.

‘Very cautious’

“Pompeo will be very cautious, considering how sensitive this topic is,” Oleksiy Melnyk, a foreign policy analyst at the Razumkov Centre in Kiev, said regarding Trump’s alleged pressure on Ukraine’s leader.

Pompeo has declined to comment on whether he intends to raise the Biden subject during the visit.

“I do not want to talk about particular individuals. It is not worth it,” Pompeo said, adding that he will discuss Zelensky’s “committment” to fight corruption.

The secretary of state came under increased scrutiny last year when it emerged that he had been one of the senior administration officials listening in on Trump’s July 25 phone call with Zelensky.

Trump last year removed the ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, and denounced her in the call with Zelensky.

Former career diplomats accused Pompeo, a stalwart ally of Trump, of not robustly defending Yovanovitch either to the White House or in public.

Pompeo’s stance on Yovanovitch became a subject of his feud with journalists this week as a correspondent for National Public Radio in the United States has been excluded from the secretary of state’s plane, after a tense exchange between him and another NPR journalist.

Pompeo held talks with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko early Friday, and also met with the leader of the new independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church Metropolitan Yepifaniy. He is to brief reporters after the talks with Zelensky.

Early tomorrow, Pompeo will continue his trip in the region, heading to Belarus, and then to Central Asia’s Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. — AFP