Burisma, a private oil and gas company in Ukraine, announced this week that it has appointed Hunter Biden, the youngest son of US Vice President Joe Biden, to its board of directors.

The company, founded in 2002, is controlled by a former energy official in the government of deposed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

The move has raised some eyebrows in the US, given the Obama administration's attempts to manage the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.

"Joe Biden has been the White House's go-to guy during the Ukraine crisis, touring former Soviet republics and reassuring their concerned leaders," writes the National Journal's Marina Koren. "And now, he's not the only Biden involved in the region."

She says that by appointing Hunter Biden head of its legal affairs unit, "Burisma is turning to US talent - and money and name recognition - for protection against Russia".

The younger Mr Biden isn't the only American with political ties to have recently joined Burisma's board. Devon Archer, a former senior advisor to current Secretary of State John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign and a college roommate of Mr Kerry's stepson HJ Heinz, signed on in April.

Mr Biden and Mr Archer are also managing partners at Rosemont Seneca Partners, a Washington, DC-based investment company.

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27403003

https://youtu.be/st6aNfm8g2s

President Barack Obama’s effort to rescue Ukraine from Russia’s military grip has stalled, and turmoil inside Ukraine's government may hand Russian President Vladimir Putin a victory in a conflict that Obama has said involves "the most basic principles of our international system.”

Two years after the pro-western protests that toppled Kyiv’s government, enraged Putin, and caused an international crisis, Obama’s Ukraine policy is foundering — the victim of Putin’s steely determination, the distractions of Syria and ISIL, and wavering support from European allies eager to move past the conflict.

Despite personal pleas from Vice President Joe Biden, U.S. officials fear that Kyiv's leaders are near a political implosion that would derail efforts to stabilize the country and eject Russia from its eastern territories.

https://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/obama-ukraine-russia-putin-219783

Washington (AFP) - Shouts, glares and unprintable words: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lost his temper at a journalist after she questioned him on the administration's stance on Ukraine, the country at the heart of President Donald Trump's impeachment trial.

It began when Pompeo gave an early morning interview to NPR radio.

Much of the discussion dealt with Iran, but journalist Mary Louise Kelly closed by asking Pompeo about Ukraine.

Trump is on trial in the US Senate after being impeached by the Democratic-controlled House for abuse of office. He is accused of pressuring Kiev to investigate his potential election challenger Joe Biden, and of blocking congressional efforts to probe that abuse.

Pompeo, a close associate of Trump, has himself been criticized for failing to defend Marie Yovanovitch, Washington's former ambassador to Ukraine who was abruptly called home last spring after being subjected to what she said was a "smear campaign" led by Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer.

"Do you owe Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch an apology?" Kelly asked Pompeo.

A tense exchange followed, wherein Pompeo said he had "defended every State Department official," while Kelly asked, in vain, when he had publicly defended Yovanovitch.

"I've said all I'm going to say today. Thank you," Pompeo said finally, ending the interview.

https://news.yahoo.com/pompeo-loses-temper-journalist-over-ukraine-questions-011846339.html