Former US ambassador to Ukraine says she resigned because of Trump’s foreign policy

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By Max Hunder

KYIV (Reuters) – The former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, who resigned from the role in April, has said that she quit the post because she disagreed with President Donald Trump’s foreign policy.

Ambassador Bridget Brink, who served as ambassador to Ukraine from May 2022 until her departure last month, outlined the reasons for her departure for the first time in an op-ed published on Friday by the Detroit Free Press.

In the piece, Brink hit out at Trump for pressuring Ukraine rather than Russia.

“I respect the president’s right and responsibility to determine U.S. foreign policy ― with proper checks and balances by U.S. Congress,” she said.

“Unfortunately, the policy since the beginning of the Trump administration has been to put pressure on the victim, Ukraine, rather than on the aggressor, Russia,” Brink said.

Brink, a long-serving career diplomat, said that she therefore felt it was her duty to step down.

“Peace at any price is not peace at all ― it is appeasement,” she said.

Brink took a public line that was supportive of Ukraine under the administration of Trump’s pro-Kyiv predecessor Joe Biden.

After Trump assumed office in January 2025 promising to quickly end the war in Ukraine, Brink’s public statements became far more neutral.

She was publicly criticised by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in April for what he described as a weak reaction to a Russian missile strike on the city of Kryvyi Rih that killed 11 adults and nine children.

Several days later, a State Department spokesperson announced that Brink was stepping down.

(Reporting by Max Hunder; Editing by Mark Porter)