The US finally nominated an ambassador to Ukraine after 2 years of leaving the post empty

• President Joe Biden nominated Bridget Brink as the next US ambassador to Ukraine.
• Biden had been criticized for allowing the position to remain unfilled for so long.

The US has nominated an ambassador to Ukraine after leaving the post empty for two years.

President Joe Biden confirmed his intent to nominate Bridget Brink, who is serving as the US ambassador to Slovakia, to the role in a statement on Monday. Brink must face confirmation hearings and a Senate vote in order to be confirmed in the position.

The announcement came a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, on Sunday for the first time since the Russian invasion and briefed Ukrainian leaders on the planned appointment.

Both US officials reiterated solidarity with Ukraine in the face of Russia's invasion, which included Austin pledging more US defense support and Blinken pledging to increase diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Biden had been criticized for allowing the position of US ambassador to Ukraine to remain unfilled as tensions mounted in Eastern Europe ahead of Russia's invasion. An administration official told Politico in January that the delay was a result of Biden's careful, deliberative process.

The position of US ambassador to Ukraine had been vacant for more than two years, with the last ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, forced out in 2019 amid President Donald Trump's bid to pressure Ukraine to investigate and smear presidential candidate Biden. Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer at the time, led a campaign against her because she stood in the way of Trump's efforts to find dirt on Biden and his son Hunter.

Blinken also told a news conference after his meeting with Zelenskyy that US diplomats would gradually return to their embassy in Kyiv in the coming weeks.

US diplomats left Kyiv two weeks before Russia launched its invasion on February 24, initially relocating to Lviv in western Ukraine and then to Poland, as Russia launched an ultimately unsuccessful bid to seize the Ukrainian capital.

A US official told reporters during a briefing in Poland that the US diplomats would initially begin day trips to Lviv and were accelerating plans on a return to Kyiv. Other allies of Ukraine, including the UK, have already reestablished diplomatic operations in Kyiv.

"There's no substitute for that face-to-face engagement, and of course there is a symbolism to being back in the country," the official said, Reuters reported.