Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv early next month, the State Department announced Monday — setting the stage for a highly anticipated and politically sensitive diplomatic encounter on the eve of President Donald Trump’s likely Senate impeachment trial.

Pompeo’s audience with Zelensky will take place during the first leg of a five-day, multicountry tour by the secretary through Eastern Europe and Central Asia, during which he is also scheduled to travel to Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Cyprus.


But the Zelensky meeting, scheduled for Jan. 3, comes the same day as the Senate gavels back into session after the holiday recess, when congressional leaders will continue negotiating terms for the president’s trial on charges related to his conduct toward Ukraine.