US Special Envoy to Ukraine steps down

WASHINGTON (AP) —United States (US) Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker has resigned, a senior American official has revealed.

Volker, a former US Ambassador to NATO, has been caught in the middle of a whistleblower complaint over US President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.

The official disclosed that Volker informed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of his decision to leave the job.

The State Department had no immediate comment on the resignation.

Volker’s decision to step down follows reports that he connected Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani with Ukrainian officials to investigate Democratic front runner Joe Biden and his family over allegedly corrupt business dealings.

The whistleblower complaint alleges that Trump used his office to “solicit interference from a foreign country” to help himself in next year’s US presidential election.

It’s reported that days after ordering a freeze on military assistance for Ukraine, Trump prodded new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to dig for potentially damaging material on Biden and volunteered the assistance of both Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr.

Giuliani has acknowledged that he was in frequent contact with Volker about his efforts.

The State Department has confirmed that Volker put Giuliani in touch with an aide to the President of Ukraine.

On Thursday, Pompeo said that as far as he knew, all State Department employees “acted appropriately” in dealing with Ukraine.

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