By Erin Banco and Humeyra Pamuk
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink is seriously weighing whether to step down from her role and leave the foreign service in the coming weeks, said a U.S. official and two other people familiar with the matter, a move that would inject new uncertainty into the relationship between Washington and Kyiv.
Brink was nominated for the post by former President Joe Biden and has been serving as ambassador in Kyiv since May 2022. She would be leaving on her own accord, the sources said.
The State Department did not immediately comment.
Brink would be one of the highest-ranking career diplomats to leave the State Department since President Donald Trump took office on January 20. She would join other veteran officials with decades of experience to leave, such as the agency’s No. 3 official John Bass, who stepped aside in January.
Her departure would come as the Trump administration tries to broker a deal between Ukraine and Russia to end the war that started with Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Washington has tried to implement two limited ceasefire agreements in recent weeks – one for energy infrastructure and one in the Black Sea – but both have fallen through.
It is unclear who would take over as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. The U.S. official and another person familiar with the matter said Chris Smith, the deputy assistant secretary for Eastern Europe and policy and regional affairs in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, is being considered. Smith previously served as deputy chief of mission in the U.S. embassy in Kyiv from 2022 to 2023.
Brink, who has overseen the transition between two administrations with vastly different Ukraine policies, was recently criticized in Ukraine for her response to a Russian strike that hit a playground in President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih and killed 11 adults and nine children.
On social media platform X, Brink posted about the strike, but did not mention Russia.
Zelenskiy criticized the U.S. embassy, saying on X its response was “surprisingly disappointing.”
“Such a strong country, such a strong people, and yet such a weak reaction,” Zelenskiy said. “They are afraid to even say the word ‘Russian’ when speaking about the missile that murdered children.”
There was no indication that this episode was a factor in Brink’s possible departure.
While political appointees typically submit their resignations when a new president takes office, most career foreign service officers continue from one administration to the next, even as the incoming president has the right to install new officials to those positions.
It is unclear if Brink has officially submitted her resignation paperwork, but sources said she is likely to leave in the coming weeks.
(Reporting by Erin Banco and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Don Durfee and Rod Nickel)
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