Veteran U.S. diplomat Bridget Brink was unanimously approved as the new ambassador to Ukraine by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on May 19.
The important diplomatic post has been vacant for three years. The Senate is expected to approve U.S. President Joe Biden’s nomination in full for the ambassadorship in Kyiv.
Brink was at Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. for her confirmation hearing on May 10.
“If confirmed, I pledge to work with Congress to help Ukraine succeed on the battlefield and at the negotiating table. We will ensure that Russia’s effort to dominate Ukraine is a strategic failure,” she said then.
She is a 25-year veteran of the Foreign Service, originally from Michigan and a Russian speaker, National Public Radio (NPR) reported.
Her diplomatic career has included stints in Uzbekistan and Georgia, and she most recently has been serving in Slovakia.
Brink’s husband is a Foreign Service officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Her predecessor, Marie Yovanovitch, was recalled by then-President Donald Trump in 2019 amid his first impeachment trial in Congress.
