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the speaker of the u.s. house of representatives accused the ukrainian ambassador to the united states of interfering in the u.s. election and demanded that the ukrainian president immediately remove him

2024-09-26

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[text/observer network chen sijia] ukrainian president zelensky recently visited the united states to seek more military assistance, but as the us presidential election approaches, the words and deeds of ukrainian officials unexpectedly angered american republicans. according to the us capitol hill newspaper on september 25, us house speaker mike johnson wrote a letter to zelensky that day, asking zelensky to fire the ukrainian ambassador to the united states and accusing him of interfering in the us election.

johnson said in the letter that zelensky visited an arsenal in pennsylvania, usa last week, organized by ukraine's ambassador to the united states, oksana markarova, but the visit was accompanied by "senior agents of democratic presidential candidate harris" and no republicans were invited.

johnson accused markarova of orchestrating a "campaign designed to help the democratic party" in competitive swing states. "this is a clear interference in the us election. this short-sighted and deliberate political move has caused republicans to no longer trust ambassador markarova's ability to serve as a diplomat fairly and effectively in the united states. she should be removed immediately."

johnson said that ukraine had been trying to avoid being "carried away by american politics" and "influencing the choices of the american people" before the us presidential election in november, but markarova's actions made this effort "abandoned."

he also criticized zelensky's remarks during his visit to the united states. he believed that ukrainian government officials' attacks on republican candidates in the media had "unnecessarily tested and negatively affected" the relationship between the republican party and ukraine.

"i reiterate that any other country should refrain from interfering in u.s. domestic politics and that there is bipartisan support for ukraine in confronting russia," johnson wrote in the letter. "these events must not happen again. thank you for your prompt attention to this matter, and i am confident that you will take immediate action."

the hill reported that a spokesman for the ukrainian embassy in the united states has not yet responded to johnson's request.

on september 22, local time, zelensky arrived in the united states and, accompanied by u.s. department of defense officials and pennsylvania democrats, visited a pennsylvania arsenal that produces ammunition for ukraine. zelensky met with pennsylvania democratic governor josh shapiro, who was one of the candidates for harris' running mate.

after zelensky started his visit to the united states, the american magazine the new yorker published a report titled "vladimir zelensky has a plan for ukraine's victory" on the 22nd. zelensky discussed the situation in ukraine, the relationship between ukraine and the united states, and criticized the republican vice presidential candidate vance for being "too radical" with the magazine.

vance shared republican presidential candidate trump's plan to end the russian-ukrainian conflict when he appeared on a u.s. podcast earlier in september. he said trump intends to establish a special demilitarized zone between ukraine and russia, where ukraine will retain its sovereignty, but the country must guarantee russia that it will not join nato or any other allied organization.

in response, zelensky told the new yorker that he would not take vance's remarks seriously because such concessions would not end the conflict. zelensky said: "the message he conveyed seems to be that ukraine must make sacrifices. the idea that the world should end the conflict at the expense of ukraine is unacceptable. if one really wants to do this, it would be a bad idea."

several republican members of the u.s. have asked congress to investigate zelensky's visit to the arsenal and accused the democratic party of using military assets to support harris' campaign. james cuomo, chairman of the house oversight and accountability committee and a republican, announced the launch of an investigation on the 25th. he believes that shapiro was one of the candidates for the democratic vice presidential candidate, making this visit "political in nature."

but the democrats denied the accusation. jamie raskin, a senior democratic member of the house oversight and accountability committee, accused cuomo of trying to "undermine ukraine's efforts to repel the russian offensive," saying that cuomo "clearly does not understand or agree with the concept of 'allies.'" he also claimed that trump and his supporters "stood on the side of russia."

pennsylvania said zelensky made a special trip to the state to visit pennsylvania workers who "play an important role in ukraine's defense."

the united states will hold a presidential election on november 5 local time. cnn said that regarding the situation in ukraine, harris has expressed her support for ukraine and nato allies during the campaign and said she would continue biden's policy of supporting ukraine; while trump refused to say whether he wanted ukraine to win the war in a recent debate.

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