List of ambassadors of the United States to Ukraine

Last updated

Ambassador of the United States to Ukraine
Посол Сполучених Штатів в Україні
US Department of State official seal.svg
Seal of the United States Department of State
Bridget A. Brink, U.S. Ambassador.jpg
Incumbent
Bridget Brink
since May 30, 2022
NominatorThe President of the United States
Inaugural holder Roman Popadiuk
as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
FormationMay 11, 1992
Website U.S. Embassy – Kyiv

The ambassador of the United States to Ukraine is the highest-ranking diplomatic position of the United States in Ukraine. The U.S. ambassadors are nominated by the president to serve as the country's diplomatic representatives to Ukraine. Under Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, their appointment must be confirmed by the United States Senate; [1] while an ambassador may be appointed during a recess, they can serve only until the end of the next session of Congress, unless subsequently confirmed. [2] Ambassadors are under the jurisdiction of the Department of State and answer directly to the secretary of state; however, ambassadors serve "at the pleasure of the President", meaning they can be dismissed at any time. Appointments change regularly for various reasons, such as reassignment or retirement. An ambassador may be a career Foreign Service Officer (career diplomat –CD) or a political appointee (PA). In most cases, career foreign service officers serve a tour of approximately three years per ambassadorship, whereas political appointees customarily tender their resignations upon the inauguration of a new American president. The U.S. ambassador to Ukraine resides in Kyiv, the country's capital and location of the U.S. Embassy.

Contents

The U.S. recognized Ukraine's independence on 25 December 1991 and the following year, opened an embassy and appointed the first American ambassador to the country on 21 January 1992. Upon the breakup of the USSR, the parliament of Ukraine declared the nation's independence on August 24, 1991. On December 1, 1991, the people of Ukraine voted to approve the declaration by a wide margin. The United States recognized Ukraine on December 26, 1991, and the U.S. embassy in Kyiv was established on January 23, 1992, with Jon Gundersen as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim. The first ambassador was commissioned in May 1992. In January 2022, the embassy requested the evacuation of non-essential personnel and their families as the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis escalated. [3]

Chiefs of mission

No.ImageNameTypeTitleAppointedPresented credentialsTerminated mission
– Jon Gundersen.jpg Jon Gundersen Career FSO Chargé d'Affaires ad interim January 23, 1992May 11, 1992
1 Roman Popadiuk.jpg Roman Popadiuk Career FSOAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiaryMay 11, 1992June 4, 1992July 30, 1993
2 William Green Miller.jpg William Green Miller Political appointeeAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiarySeptember 16, 1993October 21, 1993January 6, 1998
3 Steven Pifer, 2013 (cropped).jpg Steven Pifer Career FSOAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiaryNovember 10, 1997January 20, 1998October 9, 2000
4 Carlos Pascual.jpg Carlos Pascual Career FSOAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiarySeptember 15, 2000October 22, 2000May 1, 2003
5 AmbassadorHerbstBioPicture.jpg John E. Herbst Career FSOAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiaryJuly 1, 2003September 20, 2003May 26, 2006
6 William B. Taylor, Jr., Ambassador of the United States to Ukraine.jpg William B. Taylor Jr. Political appointee [4] Ambassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiaryMay 30, 2006 [4] June 21, 2006May 23, 2009 [5]
7 John F Tefft ambassador 2009.jpg John F. Tefft [6] Career FSOAmbassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary [7] November 20, 2009 [5] December 7, 2009 [7] July 9, 2013
8 Amb. Geoffrey Pyatt portrait.jpg Geoffrey R. Pyatt [8] [9] Career FSOAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiaryJuly 30, 2013 [9] August 15, 2013 [8] August 18, 2016
9 Marie L. Yovanovitch.jpg Marie Yovanovitch Career FSOAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiaryMay 18, 2016 [10] August 29, 2016May 20, 2019
– Dzhozef Pennington.jpg Joseph Pennington Career FSOChargé d'Affaires ad interimMay 20, 2019May 28, 2019
– Kristina Kvien, June 2019.jpg Kristina Kvien Career FSOChargé d'Affaires ad interim [11] May 28, 2019June 18, 2019 [12]
– William B. Taylor, Jr., Ambassador of the United States to Ukraine.jpg William B. Taylor Jr. Political appointee [4] Chargé d'Affaires ad interim [13] June 18, 2019 [12] January 1, 2020 [14]
– Kristina Kvien, June 2019.jpg Kristina Kvien Career FSOChargé d'Affaires ad interimJanuary 1, 2020 [15] May 29, 2022 [16]
10 Bridget A. Brink, U.S. Ambassador.jpg Bridget Brink Career FSOAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiaryMay 18, 2022May 30, 2022

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ U.S. Senate –Powers & Procedure Archived October 10, 2017, at the Wayback Machine , Senate.gov; retrieved May 25, 2012.
  2. ↑ Henry B. Hogue. "Recess Appointments: Frequently Asked Questions" (PDF). Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 29, 2017. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
  3. ↑ "US embassy in Ukraine 'requests staff evacuation' amid war fears". the Guardian. January 22, 2022. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 "William B. Taylor Jr". Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute, United States Department of State. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
  5. 1 2 New U.S. ambassador Tefft arrives in Kyiv, Interfax-Ukraine (December 2, 2009)
  6. ↑ Ex-US ambassador to Georgia John Tefft to lead diplomatic mission in Ukraine, Interfax-Ukraine (September 30, 2009)
  7. 1 2 Yushchenko accepted credentials of US Ambassador and Ambassador of Turkey to Ukraine, UNIAN (December 7, 2009)
  8. 1 2 Yanukovych accepts credentials from new US ambassador, discusses with him Ukrainian-US relations, Interfax-Ukraine (15 August 2013)
  9. 1 2 Welcome, Mr. Pyatt!, Den (5 August 2013)
  10. ↑ "President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts" (Press release). White House Press Office. May 19, 2016.
  11. ↑ Grytsenko, Oksana (May 31, 2019). "Kristina Kvien to temporarily head US Embassy in Ukraine". Kyiv Post. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  12. 1 2 "Welcoming Ambassador William B. Taylor Back to Ukraine as Chargé d'Affaires". US Embassy in Ukraine. June 18, 2019. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  13. ↑ Bonner, Brian (June 18, 2019). "William B. Taylor returns to Ukraine to lead US mission". Kyiv Post. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  14. ↑ Hansler, Jennifer (January 2, 2020). "Bill Taylor departs post as top US diplomat in Ukraine | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
  15. ↑ Kuleba welcomes nomination of Keith Dayton for new U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Interfax-Ukraine (5 May 2020)
  16. ↑ "New US ambassador to Ukraine arrives in Kyiv in symbolic move". the Guardian. May 30, 2022. Retrieved May 31, 2022.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John F. Tefft</span> American diplomat

John F. Tefft is an American diplomat who has served as a Foreign Service Officer since 1972. He was the United States Ambassador to Russia between July 31, 2014 and September 28, 2017. He had previously served as the United States' ambassador to Ukraine, Georgia, and Lithuania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William B. Taylor Jr.</span> American diplomat (born 1947)

William Brockenbrough Taylor Jr. is an American diplomat, government official, and former military officer. He served as the 6th United States ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009 under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and as chargé d’affaires to Ukraine from June 2019 to January 2020 under President Donald Trump.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Embassy of the United States, Kyiv</span> Diplomatic mission of the US in Ukraine

The Embassy of the United States of America in Kyiv is the diplomatic mission of the United States to Ukraine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoffrey R. Pyatt</span> American diplomat (born 1963)

Geoffrey Ross Pyatt is a United States diplomat serving as Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources. He was previously United States Ambassador to Greece and Ukraine. Pyatt's career in the U.S. State Department has led to posts in Asia, Europe, and Central America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kristina Kvien</span> American diplomat

Kristina A. Kvien is an American diplomat who has served as United States ambassador to Armenia since February 2023. She previously served as United States chargé d’affaires to Ukraine from May to June 2019 and from January 2020 to May 2022. From June 2019 to January 2020, she was deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of the United States in Kyiv.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George P. Kent</span> American diplomat

George P. Kent is an American diplomat. He is ambassador to Estonia since February 21, 2023. George Kent served as deputy assistant secretary of state for the European and Eurasian Affairs from 2018 to 2021. As a United States Foreign Service officer, his early service has included assignments in the U.S. diplomatic missions to Poland, Thailand and Uzbekistan. In 2004, he was assigned to serve as deputy political counselor in Kyiv, Ukraine, and was deputy chief of mission in Kyiv from 2015 to 2018.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.