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Irish Times: Ukraine’s novice leader tiptoes through Trump impeachment ‘minefield’

Published Jan. 21, 2020 at 1:54 pm

U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky look on during a meeting in New York on Sept. 25, 2019, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. Shortly before, it became known that Trump asked Zelensky to investigate the activities of his political rival, ex-Vice President Joseph Biden, in Ukraine, during a phone call in July 2019. The phone call eventually led to the impeachment of Trump on Dec. 18, 2019.

Photo by AFP

When Ukraine’s most popular comedian became its president last May, he was prepared for unpleasant surprises from the east, not the west.

Volodymyr Zelensky expected Russia to test him as it entered the sixth year of an undeclared war with Ukraine, but instead, it was a conversation with a crucial ally that pitched the novice politician into a diplomatic “minefield”.