The acting US ambassador to Ukraine is set to step down, leaving a key diplomatic post in Kyiv vacant as Russia prepares for a possible summer offensive and peace talks remain stalled.
Julie Davis, who has served as temporary Chargé d’affaires at the US Embassy in Kyiv since May last year, will depart in June 2026 and retire from the State Department after a three-decade diplomatic career, the State Department said Tuesday.
The Financial Times, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Davis had grown frustrated with her role amid differences with President Donald Trump over his declining support for Ukraine.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott denied that her departure was linked to disagreements with Trump.
“It is false to suggest Ambassador Davis is resigning ‘over differences with Donald Trump,’” Pigott said.
“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.
Davis was named to the Kyiv role by the Trump administration last May after her predecessor, career diplomat Bridget Brink, had stepped down.
Brink, who had been appointed by President Joe Biden and is now running as a Democrat for Congress, later said she had become alarmed by Trump’s “appeasement” of Russia and his pressure on Ukraine.
The FT report said Davis was blindsided after learning through media reports that Trump had nominated Arizona businessman and Republican donor John Breslow to serve as the next US ambassador to Cyprus.
The US Embassy in Kyiv has seen repeated turbulence during Trump’s time in office. In 2019, Trump recalled then-ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, who later became a central witness in his first impeachment hearings.
Trump had pledged to quickly end Russia’s war against Ukraine, launched with Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, but has so far failed to secure a deal.
According to the FT report, the White House has largely sidelined the State Department in its Ukraine diplomacy, instead relying on figures including special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, praised Davis’s “steady, effective leadership” and “unique ability to run a crisis post effectively.” A career diplomat, Davis has spent three decades with the state department. Prior to her assignments in Kyiv and Cyprus, in 2020, she became the first US ambassador to Belarus since 2008. “Important posts like Kyiv cannot and should not be managed through Washington or with stopgap measures,” Shaheen said. “It is imperative for both the US and Ukraine that we have a Senate-confirmed ambassador.”