Washington (CNN) As impeachment drama plays out in Washington, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to Ukraine -- the country at the heart of the matter.

The top US diplomat will be in Kiev next Thursday and Friday. He is the first administration official to travel there since the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

Pompeo was initially scheduled to visit Ukraine, along with several other countries, earlier this month. That trip was postponed "due to the need for the Secretary to be in Washington, DC, to continue monitoring the ongoing situation in Iraq and ensure the safety and security of Americans in the Middle East," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement at the time.

A senior administration official, asked by CNN about the rescheduled trip coinciding with the impeachment trial, said, "Impeachment has nothing to do with the timing of us going."

"This is about a policy that we're very defensive of, as it relates to Ukraine. And so it's really not a factor for us. It's important for us to go, to strengthen our policy, to strengthen President Zelensky," the official said.

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