What did Kurt Volker's resignation mean for Kyiv and Washington?
A look back at the days around 29 September 2019, when a US impeachment inquiry tied to Ukraine was gathering pace.
What was the state of play on 29 September 2019, as a dispute over Ukraine moved to the centre of American politics? The days before that date had brought two developments that put Kyiv in the international spotlight.
On 24 September 2019, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced that a formal impeachment inquiry had been launched into US President Donald Trump. The inquiry was linked to the 2019 Trump–Ukraine scandal.
Three days later, on 27 September 2019, Kurt Volker, the United States special envoy to Ukraine, resigned. His departure came one day after the release of a whistleblower report concerning a phone call between Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.
By 29 September 2019, then, the call between the two presidents was the subject of a formal inquiry in Washington, and the US envoy responsible for Ukraine had left his post. The matter was unfolding in the US Congress, but it directly involved the Ukrainian presidency.
