As tensions between President Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky escalate and Republicans accuse the Ukrainian leader of meddling in the election, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson has called on Ukraine to fire its ambassador to Washington.
In his open letter, Johnson called on Zelenskiy to fire Ukraine’s ambassador, Oksana Markarova, after he visited a munitions plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania, last week where the Ukrainian president thanked workers for providing badly needed shells for his country’s outnumbered military.
Johnson complained that Markarova organized the visit to the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant as a “partisan campaign event to support the Democratic Party,” which was attended by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat campaigning for Sen. Kamala Harris.
“This facility was located in a politically contested battleground state and was led by a political surrogate of Kamala Harris, yet they purposefully did not invite any Republicans, so not a single one was able to attend,” Johnson wrote in a letter written on congressional letterhead to the Ukrainian embassy.
“This tour is clearly a partisan campaign effort to support Democrats and election interference,” the letter continued. “This short-sighted and deliberate political move has caused Republicans to lose confidence in Ambassador Markarova’s ability to serve this country fairly and effectively as a diplomat. She should be removed from her position immediately.”
The same day, President Trump directly attacked Zelensky at a campaign event in North Carolina, accusing him of “refusing” to negotiate peace with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The president of Ukraine is in our country, and he’s making some vicious smears against me, your favorite president,” Trump said. “We continue to give billions of dollars to Zelensky, who refuses to make a deal.”
The accusations against Zelensky came after a controversial interview with The New Yorker in which he questioned President Trump’s plan to end Ukraine’s war with Russia and harshly criticized Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance as “too extreme.”
Vance has previously said peace with Ukraine could include the retention of Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia and the establishment of a demilitarized zone with a heavily fortified front line to prevent any new Russian aggression.
“His message seems to be that Ukraine has to make sacrifices,” Zelensky told The New Yorker in an interview. “This brings us back to the question of cost and who will bear it. The idea that the world will end this war at Ukraine’s expense is unacceptable. But I don’t consider his idea a plan in any formal sense.”
Zelensky will speak at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday before traveling to Washington to present a “victory plan” to President Joe Biden at the White House.
Skip Newsletter Promotions
Sign up for Trump Trial
Stay on top of all the latest developments in Donald Trump’s trial: Guardian staff will send news and updates straight to your inbox.
Privacy Notice: Our newsletter may contain information about charities, online advertising and externally funded content. For more information, please see our privacy policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and are subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
After newsletter promotion
In his letter, Johnson also noted that Ukrainian officials have criticized President Trump and Vice President Vance in statements to the media.
“Further, as I have made clear in the past, all foreign countries should refrain from commenting on or interfering in the domestic politics of the United States,” he said. “While Russia’s support for ending the war in Ukraine continues to be bipartisan, our relationship is unnecessarily tested and unnecessarily damaged when a top Republican presidential candidate is attacked in the media by government officials.”
Other Republican leaders criticized Zelenskiy this week after his comments about Trump and Vance were made public.
“I don’t mind him going to a munitions factory to thank people for helping Ukraine, but I think his comments about J.D. Vance and President Trump went too far,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said, according to US news site Punchbowl News.
“For conservatives, this will be a blow to Ukraine,” Graham said.
