Overview

• Former U.S. intelligence chief John Ratcliffe posted the declassified materials on X, including a December 2015 memo about Joe Biden’s trip to Kyiv.
• The memo says officials in then‑President Petro Poroshenko’s administration were surprised and disappointed, viewing the visit as a public speech without substantive talks.
• It records that some Ukrainian officials privately pointed to media focus on alleged Biden family ties to corruption and described perceived U.S. double standards.
• A February 2016 email states a staffer had spoken with the vice president and the national security adviser, who would strongly prefer the memo not be distributed.
• Russian official Kirill Dmitriev claimed the episode reflects U.S. influence used to protect the Bidens, while 2020 reporting on Hunter Biden emails remains background rather than a verified finding.