US Ambassador to Ukraine resigns: What's the reason and who might replace her

Сontents

• Brink's resignation
• Why US Ambassador to Ukraine leaving her post
• Brink's background and whether successor has been identified

Brink's resignation

Reports of Brink's possible resignation as Ambassador began to appear on Thursday, April 10. The American TV channel CBS News was one of the first to report it.

The journalists, citing three sources, said that US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink intends to resign early. At the same time, Brink has not officially submitted a resignation letter, but, according to media sources, she was saying goodbye to her colleagues.

One senior US official told CBS that her resignation was due to a combination of personal and political issues, including recent layoffs at USAID. In addition, Brink is working in a war-torn country, away from her family, as Kyiv is defined as a city where family members are not brought.

According to CBS News, Brink was going to resign shortly after Donald Trump's inauguration, but her resignation was not accepted. Thus, Secretary of State Marco Rubio intended to keep Brink and rejected her first resignation letter, which came in January as part of a standard change of personnel during the arrival of a new administration.

Reuters also reported yesterday that Brink was seriously considering resigning. Sources said that the ambassador would leave his post of his own free will and noted that this will bring new uncertainty to the relationship between Washington and Kyiv.

Photo: Brink has always supported the provision of military and financial assistance to Kyiv (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)

A little later, official confirmation came. The U.S. State Department announced that U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink was leaving her post and returning to the United States.

"She is returning home. Yes," said State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce during a press briefing.

According to Bruce, the issue of the ambassador's resignation was “long discussed”.

"She’s been the ambassador there (in Ukraine - ed.) for three years – that’s a long time in a war zone," she added.

Why US Ambassador to Ukraine leaving her post

As the Financial Times has learned, Brink is resigning due to growing political differences with President Donald Trump's administration. Allegedly, she was under increasing pressure from senior Trump administration officials who questioned her willingness to support their strategy on Ukraine.

Also, according to the FT, her resignation came amid deteriorating working relations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, although, according to sources, this was not the reason for her resignation.

The tension between Zelensky and Brink became apparent after he criticized the diplomat's response to the Russian strike on Kryvyi Rih last week, which killed 20 people, including 9 children.

For example, Brink's first report on the strike on Kryvyi Rih did not mention who exactly struck the city. In her statement, she simply wrote about "a ballistic missile strike". Zelenskyy reacted sharply to this.

"Unfortunately, the reaction of the American Embassy is unpleasantly surprising: such a strong country, such a strong people - and such a weak reaction. They are even afraid to say the word “Russian” when talking about the missile that killed the children," the President of Ukraine said.

After that, the Ambassador, as her post suggests, visited Kryvyi Rih, honored the memory of the victims, and publicly called the attack Russian.

Today I paid my respects to the families & loved ones of those killed, including 9 children, in a Russian cluster missile attack in Kryvyi Rih on April 4. This horrible attack underscores the urgency of a full ceasefire & a just and lasting peace. pic.twitter.com/fcUjigq05r

— Ambassador Bridget A. Brink (@USAmbKyiv) April 9, 2025

"Today I paid my respects to the families & loved ones of those killed, including 9 children, in a Russian cluster missile attack in Kryvyi Rih on April 4. This horrible attack underscores the urgency of a full ceasefire & a just and lasting peace," Brink said in a post on April 9.

Brink's background and whether successor has been identified

Brink has more than 25 years of diplomatic service. Her first ambassadorial appointment was in May 2019, when Trump appointed her to represent the United States in Slovakia.

In April 2022, then-US President Joe Biden officially nominated Bridget Brink to be Ambassador to Ukraine. She took up her duties on June 2, 2022.

Before that, the American diplomatic mission in Kyiv had not had a permanent head for more than two and a half years: after the Trump administration's early dismissal of Marie Yovanovitch, three chargés d'affaires took turns acting as head.

Brink actively supported the provision of military assistance to Ukraine. After President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, she continued to advocate for Ukraine, although the new administration focused on negotiations with Russia.

However, according to the Financial Times, Brink's rhetoric has recently changed significantly, with her statements increasingly aligned with the Trump team. An analysis of the diplomat's posts on social network X before and after Trump's inauguration on January 20 shows significant changes in her public communication, particularly regarding Russia.

In the 75 days before Trump took office, Brink publicly condemned Russia's actions and its war against Ukraine 53 times. At the same time, in the 75 days after the inauguration, she mentioned Russia only five times, according to FT journalists.

Photo: According to media reports, Chris Smith is one of the candidates for the post of US Ambassador to Ukraine (2021-2025 state gov)

It is not yet known who will replace Brink as US Ambassador to Ukraine. According to Reuters, Chris Smith is being considered among the candidates. He served as deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Kyiv from 2022 to 2023, and is currently deputy assistant secretary of state for Eastern European, political, and regional affairs in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.

Sources: CBS News, Reuters, Financial Times.