Ukrainian president: We’re ‘open’ to investigating Biden but ‘can’t be ordered to do anything’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country can’t be pressured to conduct an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden or his son but added Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies “are ready to investigate any violation of the law.”

“We cannot be ordered to do anything,” the Associated Press reported he told reporters at a Ukrainian military base. “We are an independent country.” 

{mosads}The Ukrainian president has been thrown into the limelight after Trump’s July call with him came under scrutiny in the United States and eventually sparked an impeachment inquiry in the House.

In the call, Trump asked Zelensky to “look into” Biden and his son, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian gas company. 

“We are open, we are ready to investigate, but it has nothing to do with me,” Zelensky told reporters, according to the news wire. “Our independent law enforcement agencies are ready to investigate any violations of the law.”

The Ukrainian president maintained that Ukraine is unlikely to release a transcript of the call because “there are certain nuances and things that I think would be wrong to publish,” the AP reported.

The Ukraine and Russia have been fighting against any future releases of phone call transcripts between world leaders, with the Kremlin saying that Russia would need to provide consent for the calls to be released.