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Bridget Brink, the United States Ambassador to Ukraine, takes off as a result of growing policy disagreements with President Donald Trump’s administration, according to people familiar with his decision.
His departure also comes in the middle of a deterioration of his working relations with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, although this is not the reason for his renunciation of the role, said the people.
Brink is a career diplomat who was appointed by Trump in his first mandate to be an American ambassador to Slovakia. She was then appointed Ambassador of Ukraine by President Joe Biden.
People familiar with the Brink’s decision to resign have said that she had suffered increasing pressure from the higher figures of the Trump administration which had questioned her desire to support their Ukrainian strategy.
Trump’s policy on Ukraine’s invasion by Russia has torn a large part of Biden’s work, which supported kyiv with billions of dollars in military and financial aid and imposed sanctions in Moscow.
Trump puts pressure on a quick end in war and sought to normalize American relations with Russia by direct talks with President Vladimir Putin, and called Zelenskyy as “dictator”.
A spokesperson for the State Department said: “Ambassador Brink has moved. She has been a ambassador there for three years-it’s long in a war zone.”
The White House and the State Department did not comment in response to questions on political disagreements between the Trump administration and the Brink.
Brink could not be immediately joined to comment.
Tensions between Brink and Zelenskyy were recently obvious. He published a critical declaration of the ambassador last week after a Russian missile attack against his hometown of Kryvyi Rih who killed 20 people, including nine children.
After the attack, Brink wrote on x: “Horrified that this evening a ballistic missile struck near a playground and a restaurant in Kryvyi Rih. More than 50 people injured and 16 killed, including 6 children. That is why war must end.”
Zelenskyy noted the absence of any direct attribution of blame for the attack by Brink, and said on Telegram: “Unfortunately, the reaction of the American embassy is unpleasantly surprising: such a strong country, such a strong people – and such a weak reaction. In addition, they are afraid to say the word “Russian” when they were talking about the missile that killed children. “
Brink used it Most recent article on x Wednesday to specify who was responsible for the attack.
“Today, I paid tribute to the families and their relatives of those who were killed … in a Russian cluster missile attack in Kryvyi Rih on April 4,” she wrote.
kyiv’s Western diplomats said Brink was a crucial kyiv defender in public and private since the first weeks of Russia’s large -scale invasion in 2022.
One described it as a “strong character” and a “serious diplomat”, but the pressure of the offices of Trump and Zelenskyy had wreaked havoc.
Ukrainian officials said they considered that Brink was too critical of them, especially on the country’s efforts to eliminate rooted corruption.
Managers highlighted a notable change in his recently mailbox, which they considered to be more in line with that of Trump and more and more critical of Ukraine.
After an argument between Trump and Zelenskyy at the White House in February, Brink went to social networks to support the American president.
A FT review of brink messages on x Before and after Trump took office on January 20 showed a clear change in his public statements, especially with regard to Russia.
In the 75 days preceding the inauguration of Trump, she criticized Russia and the war in Ukraine 53 times. In the 75 days later, she posted five times with Mentions of Russia, none of whom blamed the country for his attacks.
Additional Steff Chávez report in Washington
