Administration

Acting US ambassador to Ukraine leaving post, officials deny frustration with Trump

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by Laura Kelly - 04/29/26 3:52 PM ET

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by Laura Kelly - 04/29/26 3:52 PM ET

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Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Julie Davis will leave her post in June, the State Department told The Hill, retiring after a 30-year tenure as a career foreign service officer.

State Department spokesperson Tommy Piggot rejected reporting by the Financial Times that Davis, who also serves as ambassador to Cyprus, is exiting her post over frustrations with President Trump’s policy toward Ukraine.

“It is false to suggest Ambassador Davis is resigning ‘over differences with Donald Trump,’” Piggott said in a statement to The Hill.

“Ambassador Davis has been a steadfast proponent of the Trump Administration’s efforts to bring about a durable peace between Russia and Ukraine,” he added.

The Financial Times reported that Davis, whose official title was temporary chargé d’affaires, decided to leave her post over frustration with Trump’s dwindling support for Ukraine. The FT said she also felt “blindsided” over Trump’s nomination of John Breslow, an Arizona businessman and Republican donor, for ambassador to Cyprus.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote on Breslow’s nomination on Thursday.

Davis took over the senior posting in Kyiv in May 2025 following the departure of Bridget Brink, who resigned as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine in opposition to Trump’s aggressive posture toward the Eastern European nation and preferable treatment of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Brink is running as the Democratic nominee for Congress in Michigan’s 7th congressional district.

“I resigned as U.S. Ambassador Ukraine when Trump kept siding with Putin over our democratic partner,” Brink wrote Wednesday on social platform X. “Now, my successor is doing the same,”

“I knew I had to speak out and run for office because siding with dictators is just not who we are,” she added.

Some Republicans are also expressing frustration with the Trump administration over its antagonism toward Ukraine.

On Tuesday, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the former Republican leader, published an op-ed in the Washington Post criticizing the Pentagon for failing to disburse a “modest” $400 million in U.S. aid to Ukraine.

“Trump’s focus on ending the war is noble. But the price and stability of peace matter,” McConnell wrote.

“The Pentagon’s approach of withholding or slow-rolling support to Ukraine is in effect the same strategy President Joe Biden deployed,” the Kentucky Republican continued. “Never mind that hesitating to give Ukraine what it needs weakens its capacity to defend against aggression and hampers the prospects of diplomacy.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday told lawmakers that the Pentagon has released the funds.

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