President Biden on Monday nominated a career diplomat, Bridget A. Brink, to serve as ambassador to Ukraine, moving to fill a critical post amid Russia’s invasion.
The White House said Ms. Brink, a Michigan native, is currently the ambassador to Slovakia. Then-President Donald Trump nominated her to that post in 2019.
A 25-year veteran of the foreign service, she’s focused on Eastern Europe and the Caucasus region. She started her career in Belgrade, Serbia, and served at posts in Georgia and Uzbekistan. She speaks Russian and has studied Slovak, Serbian, Georgian, and French.
Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, putting a renewed focus on the position.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, during a stealth visit to Kyiv over the weekend, said U.S. diplomats who relocated to Poland will begin to gradually return to Ukraine as the war is centered on the eastern Donbas region.
The plan is to start with day trips to Lviv in the west before moving into additional cities and eventually back to Kyiv, the capital.
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The U.K. and other European countries have announced plans to re-establish a presence in Kyiv.
The Brink nomination is an attempt to fill a post that’s been occupied on an interim basis since 2019, when Mr. Trump ousted Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch amid messy attempts to investigate Mr. Biden and potential dirt on his son, Hunter Biden, because of his business deals in Ukraine.
The ousting was wrapped into broader concerns that Mr. Trump was withholding aid from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to extract Biden probes. The House impeached Mr. Trump but the Senate acquitted him at trial.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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