Puzzle in Ukraine Disaster: The place’s the U.S. Ambassador?

WASHINGTON — It’s a puzzle on the coronary heart of the disaster over Russia’s menace to invade Ukraine: Why has President Biden, a couple of yr into his presidency, failed to call an envoy to Kyiv?

Neither the Biden administration nor Ukraine’s authorities is offering a transparent clarification for a delay that profession diplomats say could be baffling and inexcusable even in extraordinary occasions, by no means thoughts at a second when the U.S. relationship with Ukraine is as consequential because it has ever been.

Consultants say that the presence of a full-time ambassador may assist to easy awkward relations which have emerged between the Biden administration and the federal government of President Volodymyr Zelensky regardless of Ukraine’s heavy reliance on Washington for its protection in opposition to Russia. However it is usually unclear how keen the Ukrainians are to obtain an envoy from Mr. Biden, who submitted a candidate to Kyiv for approval weeks in the past.

The place comes with an additional dose of intrigue, provided that it has remained empty since 2019, when President Donald J. Trump eliminated its final full-time occupant, Marie L. Yovanovitch. That motion, which is the subject of a federal investigation, contributed to Mr. Trump’s first impeachment by Congress on fees that he abused his overseas coverage leverage over Ukraine for political functions.

U.S. officers don’t dispute experiences, which emerged two months in the past, that Mr. Biden intends to appoint a profession diplomat, Bridget Brink, the present U.S. ambassador to Slovakia. The US despatched Ms. Brink’s identify to Ukraine’s authorities final month for customary overview and approval by the host authorities, in a diplomatic customized identified by the French time period agrément, and Biden officers are longing for Kyiv’s clearance to allow them to submit her to the Senate for affirmation. Throughout a go to to Kyiv on Jan. 19, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken mentioned he “would anticipate {that a} nomination might be forthcoming very shortly.”

It’s unclear why Ukraine’s authorities has not signed off on Ms. Brink. Whereas it isn’t uncommon for a bunch authorities to spend a couple of weeks vetting a possible ambassador, the timeline is regularly shorter, and diplomats say they might count on Ukraine to welcome extra high-level American consideration.

Representatives of Ukraine’s overseas ministry and its embassy in Washington, D.C., didn’t reply to requests for remark. Final week, the 112 Ukraine tv channel reported that the nation’s overseas minister, Dmytro Kuleba, had confirmed that his authorities was contemplating her candidacy.

If Russia begins a full-scale invasion of Ukraine that threatens Kyiv, after all, it’s potential that U.S. embassy personnel could be evacuated from the nation, leaving any new ambassador with out a secure vacation spot — and doubtlessly fueling regrets that one had not been put in months earlier.

Rather than a senior diplomat in Kyiv with Mr. Biden’s seal of approval, the American embassy is run by its chargé d’affaires, Kristina Kvien. Diplomatic veterans mentioned Ms. Kvien is extremely regarded throughout the International Service and in Ukraine. However she by definition lacks the stature of a White Home-appointed and Senate-confirmed emissary.

“It’s a notion downside,” mentioned Steven Pifer, a U.S. ambassador to Kyiv in the course of the Clinton administration who praised Ms. Kvien’s efficiency. “The Ukrainians are questioning, ‘Why is there no American ambassador right here?’”

Having an envoy in place would assist the 2 capitals coordinate their views and public messages, mentioned Eric Rubin, the president of the American International Service Affiliation, the union {and professional} group that represents U.S. diplomats.

In current weeks, Ukrainian officers have repeatedly diverged from or contradicted key U.S. speaking factors. Aware of the necessity to keep away from panic, as an example, they’ve disputed Washington’s dire warnings {that a} full-scale invasion may very well be “imminent,” main Biden officers to quickly comply with cease utilizing that phrase earlier than escalating their warnings once more on Friday.

“The absence of not only a U.S. ambassador to Ukraine however even a nominee to be ambassador to Ukraine at a time of disaster is worrisome and regrettable,” mentioned Mr. Rubin, who labored on the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv within the 1990s.

On the whole, Mr. Rubin mentioned, “not sending an envoy to a rustic may be taken as a sign that we don’t care.”

Mr. Biden has but to appoint ambassadors to greater than two dozen nations, however few if any are as vital as Ukraine, and diplomats and specialists say they’re mystified as to why he took so lengthy to resolve on a putative nominee. Administration officers have declined to debate the supply of the delay.

Some diplomats and specialists speculated that the White Home had little urge for food for a Senate affirmation listening to that might devolve right into a debate about Nord Stream 2, a pure gasoline pipeline between Russia and Germany that members of each events have criticized Mr. Biden for not opposing extra vigorously. Republicans may additionally use a affirmation listening to to dredge up the previous enterprise actions in Ukraine of Mr. Biden’s son, Hunter, though one Senate Republican official mentioned he was conscious of no plans to take action.

Additionally unclear is why Ukraine may not have instantly signed off on Ms. Brink, a International Service officer for greater than 20 years who has been posted in two different former Soviet republics, Uzbekistan and Georgia.

Mr. Zelensky’s workplace has consolidated a lot of its overseas coverage exercise together with his chief of employees, Andriy Yermak, who speaks recurrently to Mr. Biden’s nationwide safety adviser, Jake Sullivan, in what has turn into the middle of gravity of the U.S.-Ukrainian relationship. It’s potential the Ukrainians want to maintain it that method.

Ukrainian officers lately have additionally seen American ambassadors as patronizing scolds who frequently concern statements and name conferences to reprimand Ukrainian elites over insider dealing and good governance failures.

After which there may be the reminiscence of the Trump years, and the dismissal of Ms. Yovanovitch. Within the occasions resulting in his impeachment, Mr. Trump, hoping to wreck Mr. Biden earlier than the 2020 election, leveraged U.S. navy help to stress Mr. Zelensky to research Hunter Biden’s work for a Ukrainian power firm, in keeping with testimony in the course of the impeachment hearings.

In April 2019, Mr. Trump’s private lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani persuaded the president to take away Ms. Yovanovitch from the place after she opposed Mr. Giuliani’s efforts there to dig up filth on Hunter Biden. (No proof of wrongdoing was discovered on the a part of Hunter Biden or his father. Mr. Trump denied doing something improper and was acquitted in his Senate trial.)

In a reminder that the place can get tangled in Ukraine’s contentious home politics, some Ukrainian officers inspired Mr. Giuliani’s opposition to Ms. Yovanovitch as a result of her concentrate on anti-corruption initiatives threatened their pursuits. The nation’s high prosecutor on the time, Yuriy Lutsenko, referred to Ms. Yovanovitch in a textual content message to an affiliate as an “fool,” in keeping with proof launched in the course of the impeachment proceedings.

It was Mr. Yermak, then in a distinct authorities function, who tried to easy the scenario and create a Ukrainian technique for responding, together with a plan to work instantly with the White Home, when potential.

Mr. Rubin, of the International Service officers’ affiliation, famous that Ukraine is only one of dozens of U.S. ambassadorial posts that stay unfilled. Whereas Senate Republicans, led by Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, have stalled a lot of Mr. Biden’s nominees for months, the White Home has but to submit candidates to steer almost 30 U.S. embassies.

Mr. Biden solely simply final month nominated Jane Hartley, a Democratic Occasion donor and Carter administration aide, as his decide for ambassador to Britain. Her nomination is pending. His choice in July of an envoy to Germany, the previous president of the College of Pennsylvania, Amy Gutmann, was confirmed by the Senate on Feb. 8.

And as america conducts tense diplomacy with Russia to forestall an assault on Ukraine, Mr. Biden has but to call a brand new ambassador to Moscow. He has requested John Sullivan, who was appointed by Mr. Trump, to stay on for an indefinite period.

Andrew E. Kramer contributed reporting from Kyiv.