Acting Ambassador to Ukraine Julie Davis, May 5, 2025
EA-Ukraine VideoCast: Kyiv Advances Without Trump’s Support
Tuesday’s Coverage: Russia Ships Stolen Ukrainian Grain to Israel
UPDATE 0602 GMT:
Ukraine’s air defenses downed 154 of 171 drones fired by Russia overnight. Twelve UAVs hit 10 locations.
In the Sumy region in northern Ukraine, one civilian was killed and two injured in the Shostka community, as Russia set widespread fires with drones and a missile.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Frustrated with Donald Trump, Acting US Ambassador to Ukraine Julie Davis is resigning after less than a year in the post.
Officials said Davis was concerned about the Trump Administration’s lack of support for Kyiv, amid limits on aid, criticism of European partners, and stalled Ukraine-Russia-US talks.
State Department Tommy Pigott pushed back the reports, “It is false to suggest Ambassador Davis is resigning ‘over differences with Donald Trump. She will continue to proudly advance President Trump’s policies until she officially departs Kyiv in June 2026 and retires from the Department.”
Davis, a charge d’affaires but not a Senate-confirmed ambassador to Ukraine, is a career diplomat over three decades. She has also been serving as the US Ambassador to Cyprus since 2023.
She was named Acting Ambassador in May 2025 after career diplomat Bridget Brink left the Ambassador’s post.
Brink decided to depart after Vice President J.D. Vance and Trump verbally ambushed Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House in February 2025. She said she had grown alarmed by Trump’s “appeasement” of Russia and how he “put pressure on the victim, Ukraine”.
In 2019, after cutting off aid to Ukraine because the Zelensky Government would not push disinformation about future President Joe Biden, Trump recalled Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. He smeared her as “disloyal” and “bad news”.
Yovanovitch later testified in Congressional hearings over Trump’s impeachment later that year.
