Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected the notion that President Trump employed blackmail in his July 25 phone call with the leader from the White House.

As House Democrats push to move forward with a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump’s call with Zelensky, the Ukrainian president attempted to set the record straight. Zelensky confirmed that Trump did speak to him on July 25 and that the transcript released by the White House was accurate. He rejected, however, the whistleblower complaint’s assertion that he was being coerced into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, through withheld monetary aid from the United States. “There was no blackmail,” Zelensky said from a Kiev food market. “They blocked this money and nobody asked us [for] anything.”