Smooth sailing seen for Biden Ukraine ambassador pick in U.S. Senate (updated)

The Brink's

10/05/2022 22:09

(Updates with hearing, details, comments)
    By Patricia Zengerle
    WASHINGTON, May 10 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's
nominee to be the next ambassador to Ukraine, veteran diplomat
Bridget Brink, was expected to easily win confirmation to a
crucial position that has been vacant for three years after a
smooth confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
    The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held Brink's hearing
just two weeks after Biden sent her nomination to the Senate,
underscoring the desire from both Biden's Democrats and
Republicans to send an ambassador to support Ukrainian President
Volodomyr Zelenskiy as he faces Russia's invasion.
    A Michigan native who speaks Russian, Brink is currently
U.S. ambassador to Slovakia. She has been a career diplomat for
25 years and has worked in Uzbekistan and Georgia as well as in
several senior positions across the State Department and White
House National Security Council.
    Brink was confirmed by unanimous voice vote in 2019, when
former Republican President Donald Trump nominated her for the  
position in Bratislava.
   Senator Bob Menendez, the committee's Democratic chairman,
said he hoped Brink would be confirmed quickly. "Your
appointment... sends a powerful message to the world: We stand
with Ukraine, and the free world will not abandon those fighting
to protect it," Menendez said.
    Senator Jim Risch, the panel's top Republican, also said he
expected Brink would be confirmed.
    Many nominees for ambassadorships have waited months for
Senate approval in recent years, reflecting Washington's deep
partisan divisions.
    
    SUPPORTING KYIV
    Biden and Congress have been ramping up support for the Kyiv
government since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
    Brink said that, if confirmed, she would seek to reopen the
U.S. Embassy in Ukraine "as soon as possible.
    The top U.S. diplomats to Ukraine returned to Kyiv only on
Sunday, an important step toward the resumption of a full U.S.
presence in Kyiv, after leaving ahead of the invasion due to
security concerns.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2X00A1
    Congressional leaders on Monday agreed to rush nearly $40
billion in additional aid - much of it military assistance - to
Kyiv.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2X12F1 The House of Representatives was due to vote
on the aid later on Tuesday, and the Senate was to follow suit
within days.
    The post in Kyiv has been vacant since Trump recalled
then-U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch in May 2019.
    Yovanovitch later testified as Trump faced impeachment on
charges of withholding military aid to put pressure on Zelenskiy
to investigate Biden, seen as Trump's most likely opponent in
the 2020 election.
    The Democratic-led House impeached Trump. He was found not
guilty in the Republican-led Senate.

 (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Bill Berkrot and
Cynthia Osterman)
 ((patricia.zengerle@thomsonreuters.com,
www.twitter.com/ReutersZengerle; 001-202-898-8390;))