Kurt Volker, the United States Special Representative for Ukraine negotiations, resigned on Sept. 27 just hours after the U.S. House of Representatives announced it would take the official’s depositions regarding U.S. President Donald Trump’s suspected attempts to steamroll an investigation against his top Democrat rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, in Ukraine.
Volker did not immediately disclose his motives to leave the post he had occupied for over two years.
However, as the New York Times reported late on Sept. 27 with a reference to a source familiar with the issue, the American special envoy to Kyiv “concluded that it was impossible to be effective in his assignment given the developments of recent days.”
Volker was described to be among the key figures in the ongoing Ukraine whistleblower scandal that continues raging on in the United States. Trump was revealed to have asked during a July 25 phone call with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to “do a favor” and re-launch an investigation against Biden over the latter’s activities in Ukraine, particularly regarding him allegedly patronizing his son Hunter working in lucrative gas-producing business in Ukraine.
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Democrats accuse Trump of pressurizing Ukraine, particularly through withholding $391.5 million military assistance to Kyiv, for the purpose of toppling his top rival ahead of the 2020 presidential campaign.
In the White House’s alleged pursuit of compromising Biden, Volker found himself reluctant to cross Trump and the president’s fixer Rudy Giuliani though wary of getting drawn into politics outside his own functions in Ukraine, according to reports.
Upon that, Volker is described in the revealed whistleblower complaint on the issue to be have been trying to “contain the damage” and advising Ukrainian officials on how to interact with Giuliani seeking to dig up dirt on Biden. In particular, Volker was reported to be facilitating a meeting between Giuliani and Andriy Yermak, President Zelensky’s adviser worried about possible damage to Ukraine’s relations with the U.S. because of Giuliani’s campaign.
According to the report, the meeting was organized at a request of the Ukrainian side.
The Ukrainian leadership has so far offered few reactions to Volker’s resignation. Iulia Mendel, the spokeswoman to president Zelensky, did not respond to Kyiv Post’s requests for comments.
Other reactions voiced concerns regarding possible negative effects on Ukraine-U.S. partnership in the wake of the ongoing crisis.
“One could hardly overestimate his contribution to the strengthening of our strategic partnership with the United States,” Ukraine’s lawmaker and ex-President Petro Poroshenko said on Sept. 28 in a statement published on Facebook in English.
“As well as it would be hard to overstate his firmness and strategic vision regarding countering the Russian aggression. With Kurt, we all were feeling more confident in Ukraine – both for a peaceful settlement and for progress on reform, and for the US role.”
Pavlo Klimkin, the former Ukrainian foreign minister, called the resignation “the first real loss, and not a political one.”
“(Ukraine) was not indifferent to him,” Klimkin said on Twitter. “And this is really rare in politics. Thank you so much for everything. It’s all so sad. But it’s just the beginning.”
“With (Volker) resignation, Ukraine loses a competent, true friend who calls things by their proper names, deeply understands Russia’s real intentions in its aggression against Ukraine, and knows how to deal with the international monster,” said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, the chairperson with the Verkhovna Rada Committee for European integration.
Kurt Volker was appointed as a special U.S. envoy on Ukraine in July 2017 by then-time U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Volker was involved in negotiations with the Kremlin over its ongoing military intervention in Donbas.
The official consistently advocated the U.S. support of Ukraine’s integrity and independence and repeatedly stated the U.S. would never recognize Russia’s occupation of Crimea and would not lift sanctions on Moscow unless Russian troops withdraw from Ukraine.
He also repeatedly accused Russia of being reluctant to implement the Minsk peace agreements with Ukraine in Donbas and therefore failing to accept a peaceful settlement in the region and bring the static war that had claimed at least 13,000 lives to an end.
