(AFP) – The US envoy in Ukraine named less than a year ago is stepping down, the State Department said Tuesday, as President Donald Trump pressures Kyiv to reach an elusive deal with Russia. The Financial Times, quoting unnamed sources, said Julia Davis had grown frustrated with Trump over his lack of support for Ukraine, but the State Department denied clashes and said she was retiring.
“It is false to suggest Ambassador Davis is resigning ‘over differences with Donald Trump,'” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said. “She will continue to proudly advance President Trump’s policies until she officially departs Kyiv in June 2026 and retires from the Department,” he said.
Davis, the top US embassy official as the charge d’affaires but not a Senate-confirmed ambassador, was named by the Trump administration last May after her predecessor, fellow career diplomat Bridget Brink, stepped down. Brink, who had been appointed by President Joe Biden and is now running as a Democrat for Congress, said later that she had grown alarmed by Trump’s “appeasement” of Russia and how he “put pressure on the victim, Ukraine.”
Trump had vowed quickly to end the Ukraine war, which began with Russia’s invasion in February 2022, but has failed to secure a deal. The month after returning to the White House, Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a televised meeting, accusing him of ingratitude. Trump more recently has again publicly pressured Zelensky, saying he should cede territory to Russia to secure an agreement.
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