Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday he would be ready to open a probe into any Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election but denied that President Donald Trump had tried to blackmail him.
Zelenskiy was asked repeatedly about his relations with the Trump administration while speaking to reporters at a news marathon that lasted more than 14 hours at a food court in Kiev with rotating groups of reporters.
A former comedian who won a landslide election victory in April despite having no political experience, the 41-year-old Zelenskiy was unwillingly drawn into a political battle in Washington between Trump and his Democratic opponents.
The U.S. House of Representatives has launched an impeachment inquiry against Trump, focused on whether he used congressionally approved aid to Ukraine as leverage to pressure Zelenskiy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, one of Trump's main Democratic rivals as he seeks re-election in 2020.
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Zelenskiy told reporters that Trump did not seek to blackmail him during a phone call in July or a meeting in September.
"There was no blackmail. This was not the subject of our conversation," Zelenskiy said about his call with Trump.
Trump has made allegations, without evidence, that Biden engaged in improper dealings in Ukraine. Biden's son Hunter was on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma. Trump's personal attorney Rudolph Giuliani also alleges some officials in Ukraine conspired to help Trump's Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton.
Zelenskiy said he was open to a joint investigation into Burisma, and the 2016 U.S. election, but stressed Ukraine was an independent country with independent law enforcement agencies whose work he had no right to influence.
"We are ready to investigate interference in the (2016) election from the Ukrainian side, if it took place. Because there is really much information on this out there. But it has to be confirmed."
(Cover: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy holds an all-day press marathon at a food market in Kiev, Ukraine October 10, 2019. /Reuters Photo)