Ukrainians are growing sick of Trump, impeachment

Bloomberg

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy is getting used to being peppered with questions about Donald Trump.
At a briefing during a recent tour of the Baltic region, he interrupted an interpreter relaying a question from a reporter.
“Even without knowing your beautiful language, I understood,” he said. “We’re in Estonia now, but unfortunately everyone’s interested in what’s happening with Trump. I’m interested in relations between our countries. Honestly, I don’t like to comment on this story.”
Zelenskiy may bat the frequent queries away, but that doesn’t mean it’s a comfortable situation for a political neophyte who is still getting to grips with his job. Every day comes a reminder that Ukraine is at the center of the US impeachment investigation into its president. Not only is the country, or Zelenskiy, frequently name-checked — Trump did so 12 times last week on Twitter — but correspondents from Washington have descended en masse on Kyiv, desperate to break the next chapter of the scandal.
Ukraine, until now better known internationally for tangling with Russia in 2014 in a war where President Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea, is portrayed on American television screens and by some lawmakers as a hotbed of corruption and dodgy dealings. A curiosity. A parody, even. Zelenskiy’s prior career as a comedian is a frequent talking point.
There’s no sign it will stop, either. The House Intelligence Committee on the Democrats’ months-long investigation concluded last week that Trump abused his power, compromised national security and then tried to cover it up. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has put the wheels in motion for a historic vote to impeach Trump on a rapid timetable that could bring things to a conclusion before the Christmas holiday.
At the heart of the inquiry is Trump’s attempt during a July 25 phone call with Zelenskiy to leverage the promise of a White House meeting and the release of nearly $400 million in US aid to get Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a rival for Trump in the 2020 presidential race.
Still, turn on a television in the former Soviet republic and the subject barely gets a mention. Same for the local papers and weekly news magazines. There’s no great discussion in popular social media forums. The feeling is one of stoic nonchalance.
A recent survey on attitudes towards Zelenskiy contained 25 questions — on topics from the conflict in eastern Ukraine to privatization. There was even one on a dispute with Poland dating back to World War II. The impeachment inquiry wasn’t broached. “People don’t care much,” said Iryna Bekeshkina, who heads the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation in Kyiv. “And space for questions is limited.” Despite Ukraine getting more attention in US media “than any other country could possibly imagine,” American firms operating in the eastern European nation are thriving, according to Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kyiv.