Pentagon's Top Policy Official Who Certified Ukraine Aid Steps Down
By RFE/RL
U.S. President Donald Trump said John Rood has left his position as the top policy official at the Defense Department after just two years, the latest in a series of key departures from his administration following the Senate impeachment trial.
“I would like to thank John Rood for his service to our Country, and wish him well in his future endeavors,” Trump said in a tweet on February 19.
Bloomberg News reported earlier in the day, citing anonymous sources, that Rood had faced pressure to resign after officials lost confidence in his ability to carry out the president’s agenda.
Rood, who was appointed undersecretary of defense for policy in January 2018, gave Congress the green light in May to approve $250 million in security assistance to Ukraine, which is fighting Russia-backed forces in its eastern provinces.
The White House at Trump’s behest blocked the aid, a decision that was at the heart of the Democrats’ impeachment trial of the president.
In an e-mail on July 25, Rood warned Defense Secretary Mark Esper not to withhold military aid to Ukraine, where more than 13,000 people have been killed in a six-year war.
The message was sent the same day that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, thanked Trump during a phone conversation for U.S. military support and said his country was ready to buy more anti-tank weapons.
Trump, a Republican, responded that he would like Zelenskiy to “do us a favor though” and investigate Joe Biden, a political rival, and his son Hunter Biden, who worked for a Ukrainian gas company.
Democrats said Trump’s investigation request amounted to a quid pro quo for military aid and launched an impeachment inquiry.
Trump was acquitted by the Senate on charges of of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress earlier this month.
The president immediately moved to oust officials who had given critical testimony during the impeachment hearings, including Lieutenant Colonel Alex Vindman, the Ukraine adviser at the National Security Council, and Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union.
With reporting by Bloomberg News and CNN
The 'Gray Cardinal' Has Left The Kremlin. What Does That Mean For The War In Ukraine?
By Robert Coalson
After seven years overseeing the Kremlin's policy regarding Ukraine – a period which included Russia's seizure of Ukraine's Crimea region and the unleashing of a conflict in parts of eastern Ukraine that has left more than 13,000 people dead -- Vladislav Surkov has been dismissed.
His departure has sparked speculation that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be ready for compromises with Kyiv and the West, and bodes well for an end to the war in the Donbas. But some analysts are skeptical, suggesting that the change may be more a shift in symbolism and style than in substance.
Following weeks of rumors that Surkov was leaving, the Kremlin on February 18 issued a terse decree making it official.
It followed one week after an announcement that Dmitry Kozak, a deputy head of Putin’s administration, had been tapped as the Kremlin's point man on Ukraine.
READ THE FULL STORY HERE.