Ukraine entangled yet again in American political storm

President Donald Trump's withholding of military aid from Ukraine and his calls for the country's new president to investigate the family of a political rival have thrust the East European nation into an American political storm for the second time in three years.

Before news broke that an intelligence whistleblower had filed a formal complaint based in part on a conversation between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Ukraine had gained notoriety during the trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. He was convicted last year on charges related to his political consulting work in the country.

Now, Trump has acknowledged pressing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who served on the board of directors of an energy company in Ukraine. This prompted a showdown with Congress, as Democrats said they would proceed with a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump.

Ukraine has been a focus of US interest, and recipient of millions of dollars in American aid, since a pro-Western government took power in 2014 and Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and threw its weight behind separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine.

The country has energy resources that have made it a magnet for people looking for business opportunities such as Hunter Biden. It has a messy political scene that has turned it into a lucrative destination for political consultants and lobbyists such as Manafort.

"It's a place where you need political connections to secure your assets," said Keith Darden, an associate professor at American University's School of International Service who specializes in Ukraine.

"You get people who are skilled in operating in that environment, someone like Paul Manafort, or someone who can take advantage of that environment like Hunter Biden, and they can make money."
"They have a very big hole to dig themselves out of," said Nina Jankowicz, an expert on Eastern Europe at the Wilson Center in Washington. "It's basically been 30 years of unchecked corruption."