Ukraine has approved Bridget Brink to serve as the United States’ ambassador in Kyiv, according to a report by CBS News. Brink currently serves as the U.S. ambassador to Slovakia.

Brink had been expected to fill the position for several months, according to the report. However, her choice, like many ambassadorial appointments, appears to have been delayed by infighting on Capitol Hill over U.S. representation abroad.

Brink has not yet formally nominated by President Joe Biden and has yet to appear before Congress. However, Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly discussed her nomination with Ukrainian officials during his most recent visit to Kyiv. According to CBS News, the Ukrainian government is preparing an official statement indicating its approval of Brink. Once it is issued to the White House, Biden is expected to notify Congress.

A career diplomat, Brink joined the State Department in 1996. Prior to her appointment as ambassador to Slovakia in 2019, she served in Washington, D.C., Serbia, Cyprus, Georgia, and Uzbekistan, where she was Deputy Chief of Mission from 2014 to 2015. She later served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, according to the State Department.

The United States has been represented by a charge d’affaires in Ukraine for more than two years in place of a formal ambassador, whose appointment requires congressional approval. The last ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, was recalled from her position in April 2019 in acrimonious circumstances by then-President Donald Trump.

Yovanovitch later testified against Trump at a hearing for his first impeachment, arguing that she had been pushed out for refusing to investigate then-former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter’s business dealings in the country. Trump was ultimately impeached by the House of Representatives for his conduct in Ukraine, although he was acquitted by the Senate.

U.S. policy in Ukraine has grown in importance since late 2021, as Russian troops have built up along the country’s eastern and northern border. Russian officials claim that the troop buildup is not the prelude to a Russian invasion of Ukraine, but the United States and other European countries have shipped arms and other military equipment to Kyiv in anticipation of a conflict.

Diplomatic efforts to end the crisis are ongoing, although Russia’s principal demand – that Ukraine be formally excluded from future NATO membership – has been repeatedly refused by U.S. and NATO officials.

Trevor Filseth is a current and foreign affairs writer for the National Interest.

Image: Reuters.