Two top officials who gave damaging testimony in the House of Representatives impeachment hearings of President Donald Trump have been ousted from their positions following Trump’s acquittal in the Senate trial.
Ukraine-born U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, who testified about a controversial phone call between Trump and the Ukrainian president, was fired from his job on February 7 as the National Security Council’s (NSC) expert for the former Soviet republic in what his lawyer said was an act of “revenge.”
Meanwhile, Gordon Sondland, a major donor to the Trump inaugural committee, said in a statement that he has been advised that Trump plans to recall him as the U.S. ambassador to the European Union.
Ukrainian President Meets Pope At Vatican, Discusses Crisis In Country's East
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on February 8.
The Ukrainian leader and the head of the Catholic Church discussed the plight of Ukrainian detainees in annexed Crimea, areas of eastern Ukraine under de facto control of Russia-backed separatists, as well as in Russia, the Ukrainian presidential press service said in a posting on Twitter.
Russia seized control of Crimea in March 2014 in a controversial referendum after sending in soldiers without identifying insignia to secure key military and government sites on the Black Sea peninsula.
A month later, Moscow began backing separatists in eastern Ukraine in a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people.
The 83-year-old pontiff has on several occasions voiced hope for an end to the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Francis offered a prayer ahead of the key summit involving Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Paris on December 9, expressing hope the sides will “seek solutions to the painful conflict.”
Francis also called for peace in eastern Ukraine in his Christmas message on December 25.
Zelenskiy arrived in Italy on February 7, when he met with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
Talks in Rome were reported to focus on Vitaliy Markiv, a Ukrainian National Guardsman sentenced in 2019 by an Italian court to 24 years in prison for his role in the deaths of an Italian photojournalist and his translator during fighting near the eastern Ukrainian city of Slovyansk in 2014.
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (CLICK TO ENLARGE):
Ukraine's Zelenskiy Asks Pope To Help Achieve Release Of Prisoners Of War
Pope Francis received Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his wife, Olena, at the Vatican on February 8. “I asked for help with the release of Ukrainians captured in the Donbas, Crimea, and Russia,” the Ukrainian president wrote on Twitter, referring to prisoners of war held by Russia and by Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in March 2014. A month later, fighting broke out in eastern Ukraine in a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people and displaced more than 1 million. The 83-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church has on several occasions voiced hope for an end to the conflict. (Reuters)
