A Ukrainian court forced the opening of an investigation into claims that former Vice President Joe Biden pressured the resignation of a special prosecutor in order to benefit his son Hunter Biden.

The Ukrainian State Bureau of Investigations confirmed the investigation into Biden's motivation to press for the 2016 dismissal of Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, according to a report from the Washington Post.

The investigation mirrors the demand made by President Donald Trump in an infamous call made with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The accusations of a "quid pro quo" with Zelensky led to the two impeachment charges that were issued against the president by the Democrat-led House of Representatives.

"They need to investigate this. They have no other alternative," said Shokin's lawyer Oleksandr Teleshetsky.

"They are required to do this by the decision of the court," he added. "If they don't, then they violate a whole string of procedural norms."

Shokin has claimed that his resignation was forced in order to prevent a probe into Burisma, an energy company that had appointed Hunter Biden as a board member in 2014.

Republicans in the U.S. Senate have also opened an investigation into the claims of corruption against Biden and his son.

Hunter Biden is also entangled in his own scandal having to do with fathering a child with a former exotic dancer from a Washington, D.C., club he frequented.

Biden was considered the front-runner in the Democratic presidential primary, but his campaign has performed disastrously in the first state contests, paving the way for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to seize the lead.

Here's more about the Biden Burisma scandal: