A top Ukrainian foreign services official has said that there never was any ties whatsoever of US aid to any kind of investigations of the Bidens. In the wake of the second day of public testimony in the Trump impeachment inquiry, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Vadym Prystaiko, said U.S. envoy to the EU Gordon Sondland never linked aid to any kind of probes into the Bidens.

The minister said the Bidens were mentioned during U.S.-Ukrainian talks but emphasized there was no conditionality attached to the investigation. This week, two witnesses in an open impeachment hearing claimed just such a “quid pro quo” took place. Prior to that, witnesses in closed-door depositions made similar claims.

Colonel Alexander Vindman reportedly listened in on the July phone call between President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart. Vindman, a decorated veteran who was the White House’s Ukraine expert, told the House panel that the release of a military aid package to Ukraine was “contingent” on the Ukrainian government investigating Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

“If Ukrainians took a partisan position, they would significantly undermine the possibility of future bipartisan support,” stated Vindman. “Losing bipartisan support, they would then lose access to potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in security assistance funds.”

The colonel went on to say that the call went well until a meeting between the two presidents was suggested. Former EU Ambassador Gordon Sondlond then “proceeded to discuss the deliverable required in order to get the meeting and alluded to investigations.”

Vindman continued, “The Ukrainians saw this meeting as critically important in order to solidify the support for their most important international partner. When Ambassador Sondland started to speak about Ukraine delivering specific investigations in order to secure the meeting with the President, Ambassador Bolton cut the meeting short.”

However, Prystaiko said about Sondland, “Ambassador Sondland did not tell us, and certainly did not tell me, about a connection between the assistance and the investigations. You should ask him.”

In addition to Prystaiko’s comments, Ukrainian lawmakers have said impeachment proceedings in the U.S. may hurt bilateral ties.

“Of course, I see the risk of losing bipartisan support,” stated MP Volodymyr Ariev. “But I suppose that American politicians are going to be wiser than some Ukrainian leaders or politicians.”

Ukrainian officials also said anticorruption probes into energy company Burisma, never formally stopped and never had a connection to U.S. military aid.