Politico: US speaker demands Zelenskyy fire ambassador after controversial weapons factory visit

Speaker Mike Johnson has demanded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “immediately” dismiss the country’s ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, over what he termed a “shortsighted and intentionally political” visit to a Pennsylvania weapons factory that exclusively included Democrats.

“Support for ending Russia’s war against Ukraine continues to be bipartisan, but our relationship is unnecessarily tested and needlessly tarnished when the candidates at the top of the Republican presidential ticket are targeted in the media by officials in your government,” Johnson expressed in a letter on September 25, Caliber.Az reports via Politico.

He further accused the visit to Scranton, Pennsylvania, of deliberately omitting Republican officials and insisted that such an event “cannot be repeated.”

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy's office has refrained from commenting on the letter.

Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa.), who participated in the visit with Zelenskyy and is facing a competitive reelection this autumn, stated on social network X on September 25 that:

"Attempts to smear Zelenskyy's visit to our Commonwealth are an insult and a disgrace."

Johnson's letter represents the latest political fallout from the visit, which has provoked significant Republican backlash throughout Congress.

House Oversight Chair Representative James Comer (R-Ky.) initiated his investigation into the visit earlier on September 25, while two senior Senate Republicans urged Zelenskyy to refrain from engaging in US domestic politics.