(Washington) US President Joe Biden announced his intention to appoint a new US Ambassador to Ukraine on Monday, the day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a phased return of US diplomats to Ukraine, during a visit to Kyiv.
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Bridget Brink, current ambassador to Slovakia, has “spent her 25-year career in the diplomatic corps, focused on advancing US policies in Europe and Eurasia,” the White House said in a statement.
The diplomatic post in Ukraine had been headed since 2019 by charges d’affaires.
During a visit to Kyiv on Sunday with the head of the Pentagon Lloyd Austin – the first of American leaders in Ukraine since the outbreak of hostilities by Russia – the head of the American diplomacy Antony Blinken told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Joe Biden was about to appoint this career diplomat.
She will now have to see her appointment confirmed by the US Senate.
Antony Blinken also announced during this visit the return of an American diplomatic presence in Ukraine in a very gradual way, the United States being much more cautious than several European countries which have already reopened their embassies in Kyiv.
“Since the outbreak of hostilities, we have had a team in Poland doing this job. Starting this week, members of this team will make same-day trips within Ukraine,” a senior State Department official told reporters who were waiting for the two ministers on the Polish side of the border.
“From there, they will ramp up, to other parts of the country, and ultimately reactivate our presence in Kyiv,” he added.