Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy denies 'blackmail' in Trump phone call
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told reporters he was not blackmailed by Donald Trump during the 25 July phone call.
Friday 11 October 2019 23:14, UK
It was billed a press marathon and that's exactly what it was.
Ukraine's comedian-turned-president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, was in conversation all day and much of the night with the media he's tried his best until now to avoid.
If the focus for the international press was the now infamous July phone call with US President Donald Trump, for Ukraine's media the impeachment scandal roiling the White House was more of a side-show.
With protesters back on the streets screaming of capitulation to Russia over Mr Zelenskiy's proposals for a settlement to war-torn Donbas, domestic issues took priority in more than 14 hours of questioning which Mr Zelenskiy responded to mostly in Ukrainian, a packet of cough sweets at his side as his voice started to go.
The headline, certainly for Mr Trump, was that the Ukrainian president had felt no pressure, no hint of blackmail, during that 25 July call.
Mr Zelenskiy said he only discovered afterwards that US military aid to the tune of $391m (£310m) had been withheld.
He said the purpose of the call, for him, was simply to secure a White House meeting and to introduce the US president to the new, young team running things in Ukraine.
"We [Zelenskiy and US Vice President Mike Pence] had a meeting [later in Warsaw]. It was comprehensive and very good. And after this meeting the US unlocked aid and added $140m (£110m). That's why there was no blackmail. Not at all, as that was not a theme of our conversation," he said.
President Trump was quick to claim vindication.
"That should end this Democrat Scam, but it won't, because the Dems & Media are FIXED!", he tweeted after referring inaccurately to Mr Zelenskiy as President of 'the' Ukraine, which his aides by this point should have impressed upon him is no longer the appropriate prefix for post-independence Ukraine.
His personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani also jumped on the bandwagon. "What the Dem and FNM are doing to the American public is disgraceful! Their key player has once again, debunked their entire 'impeachment inquiry'!".
For Mr Giuliani, that euphoria was perhaps short-lived after the arrest of two businessmen associates of his for allegedly funnelling foreign funds to republican political candidates.
Prosecutors allege amongst other things that Ukrainian-born Lev Parnas lobbied a Republican congressman to seek the dismissal of the US ambassador to Ukraine on behalf of Ukrainian government officials.
The two men were also crucial to Giuliani's attempts to have Ukraine re-open a corruption investigation into Hunter Biden and his links with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings.
Hunter is the son of former Vice-President Joe Biden who the Trump team accuse of ousting the then Ukrainian Prosecutor-General to stop him from investigating possible corruption at Burisma - a so-far unsubstantiated allegation.
The Ukrainian president said he had never met Mr Parnas or Igor Fruman, the Belarusian arrested with him, and that Washington had not requested any documents pertaining to either man from the Ukrainian government.
In a nod to President Trump, he did offer to investigate what is widely held to be a conspiracy theory - that Ukraine may have meddled in the 2016 US election.
He insisted he would have nothing to do with the upcoming run-off in 2020.
"I do not want to interfere in any way with the US elections or politics. And I won't do it. Choose your president yourself", he said.