Bridget Brink to be named US ambassador to Ukraine, filling two-year vacancy
The United States has notified Ukraine that the current U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia, Bridget A. Brink, will soon be named as the new U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the BBC Ukrainian Service on Feb. 3.
The last official U.S. Ambassador in Kyiv was Marie Yovanovitch, who was recalled by former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2019 amid a smear campaign launched by the Trump administration. The post has remained vacant since.
Democratic Party lawmakers in Washington characterized Yovanovitch’s dismissal as “politically motivated,” given that the smear campaign against her was spearheaded by Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer.
On Jan. 31, CNN and Bloomberg reported that U.S. President Joe Biden intended to nominate Brink as the ambassador to Ukraine, citing sources.
Brink started her diplomatic service and joined the U.S. State Department in 1996. After serving in various diplomatic posts in Serbia, Georgia, Uzbekistan, she was appointed as the ambassador to Slovakia in August 2019.
Between 2015 and 2019, Brink was the deputy assistant secretary in State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs and played a role in coordinating U.S. foreign policy regarding Ukraine.
Originally from Michigan, Brink holds Master’s degrees in International Relations and Political Theory from the London School of Economics and Political Science as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Kenyon College. Besides English, she speaks Russian, Serbian, Georgian and French.
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