Although this evidence suggests that Ukrainian officials in Washington were vaguely aware of an issue with the security assistance before August 28, the evidence does not show that the senior leadership of Ukrainian government in Kyiv was aware of the pause until late August. A New York Times story claimed that unidentified Ukrainian officials were aware of a delay in "early August" 2019 but said there was no stated link between that delay and any investigative demands.[1] However, a subsequent Bloomberg story reported that President Zelensky "and his key advisers learned of [the pause on U.S. security assistance] only in a Politico report in late August."[2]
The Bloomberg story detailed how Ukraine's embassy in Washington—led by thenAmbassador Chaly, who had been appointed by President Zelensky's predecessor—went "rogue" in the early months of the Zelensky administration.[3] According to Andrey Yermak, a close adviser to President Zelensky, the Ukrainian embassy officials, who were loyal to former President Poroshenko, did not inform President Zelensky that there was any issue with the U.S. security assistance.[4] This information explains the conflicting testimony between witnesses like LTC Vindman and Deputy Assistant Secretary Cooper, who testified that the Ukrainian embassy raised questions about the security assistance, and Ambassador Volker and Ambassador Taylor, who testified that the Zelensky government did not know about any pause in security assistance.
According to the Ukrainian government, President Zelensky and his senior advisers only learned of the pause on security assistance from Politico—severely undercutting the idea that President Trump was seeking to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rival.
8. The Ukrainian government denied any awareness of a linkage between U.S. security assistance and investigations.
Publicly available information also shows clearly that the Ukrainian government leadership denied any awareness of a linkage between U.S. security assistance and investigations into the President's political rival. The Ukrainian government leaders made this assertion following public reports that Ambassador Sondland had raised the potential connection in early September. This understanding is supported by information provided by Senator Johnson.
In Ambassador Sondland's addendum to his closed-door testimony, dated November 5, 2019, he wrote how he came to perceive a connection between security assistance and the investigations. He wrote:
[B]y the beginning of September 2019, and in the absence of any credible explanation for the suspension of aid, I presumed that the aid suspension had become linked to the proposed anti-corruption
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