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President Biden plans to nominate Bridget Brink as the next US ambassador to Ukraine, the White House said Monday. The move is intended to fill a position that has remained officially vacant for three years – and is now even more important during the Russian invasion.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said after a visit to Kyiv that Brink, who is currently the US ambassador to Slovakia, has “deep experience in the region” and “will be a very strong representative of the United States in Ukraine.”
The announcement came when Blinken and Defense Minister Lloyd Austin met with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky during the first US high-level visit to Ukraine since the Russian invasion.
Officials said US diplomatic operations would resume this week in Ukraine as a first step towards reopening the US embassy in Kyiv. “Brink’s decades of experience make it uniquely appropriate for this moment in Ukraine’s history,” the State Department said in a statement Monday.
Ukraine has no US ambassador since 2019. The Brink nomination aims to fill the diplomatic void left by President Donald Trump unceremoniously removing Marie Jovanovic from office in 2019, a move that was carefully considered during Trump’s first investigation into impeachment.
The United States is resuming diplomatic operations in Ukraine
Brink, whose career in foreign affairs spans more than 26 years, is no stranger to escalating tensions in Eastern Europe.
From 2015 to 2018, she worked as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the State Department, closely monitoring the continuing tensions in the former Soviet Union. She has also served in Uzbekistan and Georgia, two other former Soviet republics, and served on the White House National Security Council.
Brink supported Slovakia’s accession to NATO in 2004 and became US ambassador to the country in 2019, a position he currently holds.
During the swearing-in ceremony in 2019, Brink spoke about the significance of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 as a student at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She also highlighted what she described as a “lasting transatlantic bond” that runs through her family.
Her husband’s grandmother, she said, survived Blitz Manchester during World War II, while Brink’s own grandfather, a doctor, treated Dwight D. Eisenhower when he was US commander of the war in Europe.
“According to family legend, my grandfather measured General Eisenhower’s blood pressure, and it was a little high,” Brink said in a speech. “General,” he said, “lie down for a few minutes and think of happy thoughts.” He did, and my grandfather was able to announce that General Eisenhower had passed the examination. The rest, as they say, is history. “
As US ambassador to Slovakia, Brink said her priorities are “to continue our strong defense cooperation, to look for ways to increase trade and investment, and to speak loud and clear about the shared values that underpin the transatlantic relationship.” “.
“This is a big task and one lesson I learned in government is that nothing is ever done alone,” she added.
Moscow often cites the expansion of the transatlantic alliance closer to Russia’s borders as the reason for the country’s invasion of Ukraine. If confirmed, Brink will have to deal with the challenges of sustaining Russia’s Western response, while ensuring that the conflict does not escalate to the point of nuclear war. Russian authorities have threatened to move nuclear weapons to the Baltic region if NATO continues to expand.
The pipeline from the candidacy for ambassador to confirmation is often delayed due to a cumbersome mix of bureaucracy, politics and legal requirements. But once confirmed by the Senate for her current post, this could speed up her expected appointment to Ukraine.
At the beginning of the Russian invasion, Brink visited Slovakia’s border with Ukraine, where she said she had witnessed the “heartbreaking scene” of refugees fleeing violence.
“My heart is with every victim of this senseless war,” she said in a statement.
“Miss Ryan contributed to this report.”
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