Explained: how Ukraine found itself at the heart of the Trump impeachment scandal
- Here’s a look at how Ukraine become part of the biggest story in American politics, and what’s at stake
Suddenly, Ukraine is ubiquitous.
The former Soviet republic, Europe’s second largest country in terms of land area, finds itself thrust into an unwelcome spotlight over US President Donald Trump’s alleged attempts to pressure its new government into digging up dirt on his potential rival in 2020, former vice-president Joe Biden.
Ukraine, with a population of about 45 million, is no stranger to superpower geopolitics.
It sits next door to Russia, which seized a chunk of its territory five years ago and has continued to back a separatist uprising.
And it’s not the first time Ukraine has become embroiled in US presidential politics. Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort was imprisoned for illegal lobbying in Ukraine for about a decade beginning in 2004 and hiding the proceeds.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a former comedian who once played his country’s president on TV, was elected in May in a landslide.
The 41-year-old political neophyte campaigned on an anti-corruption corruption platform, and during his two months in office, he has sought to defuse tensions with Moscow while continuing to build ties with the United States in hopes it would be a bulwark against Russian aggression.