Marie Yovanovitch. AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

Ukraine on Thursday announced it had launched a criminal investigation into alleged threats against Marie Yovanovitch while she was serving as the US ambassador to Ukraine.

Yovanovitch was abruptly ousted from her post last year following what she and others characterized as a smear campaign against her.

The House Intelligence Committee released new documents this week showing the extent to which President Donald Trump's associates stalked her movements in Ukraine when she was ambassador.

Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs said in a statement that it "with regard to international and national legislation, guarantees protection, safety and untouchability for diplomats of any foreign state on the territory of Ukraine, including the representatives of the diplomatic corps of the United States of America."

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Ukraine on Thursday announced it would launch a federal criminal investigation into alleged threats against Marie Yovanovitch while she was serving as the US ambassador to Ukraine.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs released a statement saying it was aware of "the materials published by the investigators, related to possible illegal surveillance on the former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch on the Ukrainian territory."

It added that it "with regard to international and national legislation, guarantees protection, safety, and untouchability for diplomats of any foreign state on the territory of Ukraine, including the representatives of the diplomatic corps of the United States of America."

Yovanovitch was abruptly recalled from her position last May following what she and other career diplomats characterized as a smear campaign against her from President Donald Trump and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

Yovanovitch was one of several witnesses to testify in Congress' impeachment inquiry into Trump's conduct, where she provided previously unknown details about the lengths Trump and Giuliani went to engineer her removal from her posts.

Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump in 2016. AP

Other witnesses, like Fiona Hill, the National Security Council's former top Russia analyst, testified that while they acknowledged the president was at liberty to hire and fire ambassadors at will, they did not understand why Yovanovitch was publicly humiliated before being dismissed.

The House Intelligence Committee released a trove of documents on Tuesday and Wednesday revealing the extent to which Giuliani's associates in Ukraine went to get Yovanovitch fired.

In one conversation, Robert Hyde, a Republican running for Congress in Connecticut, referred to Yovanovitch bluntly as "that b----."

Hyde, an associate of the businessman Lev Parnas, later sent several texts suggesting it was possible to keep tabs on Yovanovitch in Ukraine, adding, "They are willing to help if we/you would like a price."

Afterward, Hyde wrote, "Guess you can do anything in the Ukraine with money."

Hyde also texted Parnas about Yovanovitch's whereabouts and the state of her security.

"She under heavy protection outside Kiev," Hyde wrote.

He followed up saying they "have a person inside."

Yovanovitch's lawyer called for an investigation into any surveillance of her shortly after the documents were first released. But the US has not yet announced an investigation in the matter.

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