Washington-SANA
US envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volcker announced his resignation suddenly after receiving a summons from Congress for questioning as part of an investigation into accusations by US President Donald Trump of seeking foreign assistance to intervene in the upcoming US presidential elections.
Volcker offered no public explanation for his resignation, the first since the Trump scandal was unveiled to put pressure on Ukrainian President Vladimir Zilinsky to discredit his Democratic challenger Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election.
Volcker, formerly the US ambassador to NATO, is one of other US officials who have found themselves in an awkward position because of the accountability measures facing Trump in Congress and could even lead to his removal.
Chairmen of the State Department's intelligence, intelligence and executive oversight committees summoned five State Department officials to testify between October 2 and 10, including Volcker and former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Jovanovich.
Congressional Democrats also called on US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to provide them with documents on the Trump-Ukraine issue in order to speed up accountability, warning the latter that refusal to comply with this request would be a sign of obstructing the House of Representatives investigation of the measure.
