President Petro Poroshenko has appointed one of his administration’s deputy chiefs, Valeriy Chaly, ambassador to the United States, according to a decree published on the presidential website on July 10.
“I am
grateful for the trust of the president of Ukraine,” Chaly said on his Facebook
page after the official announcement.
The
45-year-old native of Vinnytsia replaces Oleksandr Motsyk who served in the
post for five years until April.
Chaly, who
has four years of civil service experience, will as the next ambassador try to
convince U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration to provide more robust
support for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia’s 17-month-long war against
the eastern Donbas, following the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014.
Thus far, the Obama
administration has refused to supply Ukraine with lethal defensive weapons or
provide anything close to a multibillion-dollar package of military and
economic assistance that many think is vital to Ukraine’s ability to prevail in
the war.
Appointed
as deputy presidential chief of staff on June 19, 2014, Chaly headed foreign
affairs in Poroshenko’s administration.
In
2010-2014 and 1999-2009, he was the director of international programs and
deputy head of the Razumkov Center, a Kyiv-based think tank and polling firm.
He also
served as deputy foreign minister in 2009-2010 before resigning over Ukraine’s
policy switch to having a non-bloc, neutral status during the start of ex-President
Viktor Yanukovych’s presidency.
According
to his official biography, Chaly’s native language is Ukrainian and he is
fluent in the English and Russian languages.
Kyiv Post editor Mark Rachkevych can be reached
at [email protected]. Editor
in chief Brian Bonner contributed to this report.
