Davis has been the acting head of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv since May 5, 2025.
“Julie Davis, who has served as temporary chargé d’affaires at the US embassy in Kyiv since May last year, has grown frustrated with her role amid differences with President Donald Trump over his dwindling support for Ukraine, said three people familiar with her decision,” the FT wrote.
A career diplomat who also serves as U.S. ambassador to Cyprus, Davis was “felt blindsided,” the FT said, by media reports in October 2025 that Trump had nominated businessman and Republican donor John Breslow as the next ambassador to Cyprus. FT sources also said Davis intends to end her 30-year diplomatic career.
In 2020, Davis became the first U.S. ambassador to Belarus since 2008.
“The US embassy in Kyiv has had trouble retaining ambassadors during both of Trump’s terms,” the FT added.
“In 2019, Trump recalled Marie Yovanovitch, then ambassador in Ukraine, deeming her “disloyal” and “bad news”. She was a crucial witness in congressional hearings as part of Trump’s first impeachment later that year.”
“When [former ambassador Bridget] Brink, a proponent of
military assistance for Ukraine, quit last year, she said she had opposed the
pressure that the Trump White House was piling on Kyiv while letting Moscow off
the hook.”