Ukraine sure is in a tough spot.
Ukraine's former Deputy Foreign Minister Olena Zerkal — who said she resigned last week to protest Kyiv's diplomacy with both Washington and Moscow — became the first Ukrainian official to publicly acknowledge Ukrainian higher-ups were aware that the U.S. froze Ukrainian military during the Trump administration's campaign to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into investigating President Trump's domestic political rivals, The New York Times reports. Trump has said Ukraine "didn't even know the money wasn't paid," arguing that Kyiv couldn't have felt pressure over something they weren't aware of.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
While it's unclear which senior Ukrainian officials knew about the freeze (Zelensky said he didn't learn about it until before a meeting with Vice President Mike Pence on Sept. 1), Zerkal said she was instructed to "keep silent" about impeachment in general, likely out of fear of angering the Trump administration since the country is still relying on the U.S. for aid.
BuzzFeed News previously reported that Zerkal said Ukraine learned about the holdup in late August, about a month after the phone call. Perhaps something jogged her memory, or maybe she's just speaking more freely after her resignation. Read more at The New York Times. Tim O'Donnell
-
The 5 best political thriller series of the 21st centuryThe Week Recommends Viewers can binge on most anything, including espionage and the formation of parliamentary coalitions
-
Sudan stands on the brink of another national schismThe Explainer With tens of thousands dead and millions displaced, one of Africa’s most severe outbreaks of sectarian violence is poised to take a dramatic turn for the worse
-
‘Not every social scourge is an act of war’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
