The acting US ambassador to Ukraine will step down from her post after less than a year in the job, the state department has said, amid a lull in US-brokered efforts to achieve a ceasefire and end Russia’s invasion.
Julie Davis had grown frustrated with president Donald Trump over his lack of support for Ukraine, the Financial Times reported, quoting unnamed sources. The state department denied any such disagreements took place and said she was retiring.
Trump has been pressuring Kyiv to reach a peace deal with Russia, saying the country could cede territory to secure an agreement. The president has so far has failed to bring the war to an end through ceasefire talks which have now largely stalled as Washington has concentrated its focus on the Iran war.
“It is false to suggest Ambassador Davis is resigning ‘over differences with Donald Trump,’” state department spokesperson 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 is the charge d’affaires but not a Senate-confirmed ambassador. She has also been serving as the US ambassador to Cyprus since 2023, operating a dual role during her time in Kyiv.
She was named by the Trump administration in May last year after her predecessor, fellow career diplomat Bridget Brink, stepped down.
Brink, who had been appointed by then President Joe Biden and is now running as a Democrat for Congress, said that she had grown alarmed by Trump’s “appeasement” of Russia and how he “put pressure on the victim, Ukraine.”
Since assuming office in January 2025, Trump has repeatedly assigned blame to Ukraine for Russia’s invasion of the country more than four years ago and has had a tumultuous relationship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
With Agence France-Presse and Reuters