The ambassador of the United States to Ukraine is the highest-ranking diplomatic position of the United States in Ukraine. The U.S. ambassadors are nominated by the president to serve as the country's diplomatic representatives to Ukraine. Under Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, their appointment must be confirmed by the United States Senate;U.S. SenatePowers & Procedure , Senate.gov; retrieved May 25, 2012. while an ambassador may be appointed during a recess, they can serve only until the end of the next session of Congress, unless subsequently confirmed. Ambassadors are under the jurisdiction of the Department of State and answer directly to the secretary of state; however, ambassadors serve "at the pleasure of the President", meaning they can be dismissed at any time. Appointments change regularly for various reasons, such as reassignment or retirement. An ambassador may be a career Foreign Service Officer (career diplomatCD) or a political appointee (PA). In most cases, career foreign service officers serve a tour of approximately three years per ambassadorship, whereas political appointees customarily tender their resignations upon the inauguration of a new American president. The U.S. ambassador to Ukraine resides in Kyiv, the country's capital and location of the U.S. Embassy.
The U.S. recognized Ukraine's independence on 25 December 1991 and the following year, opened an embassy and appointed the first American ambassador to the country on 21 January 1992. Upon the breakup of the USSR, the parliament of Ukraine declared the nation's independence on August 24, 1991. On December 1, 1991, the people of Ukraine voted to approve the declaration by a wide margin. The United States recognized Ukraine on December 26, 1991, and the U.S. embassy in Kyiv was established on January 23, 1992, with Jon Gundersen as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim. The first ambassador was commissioned in May 1992. In January 2022, the embassy requested the evacuation of non-essential personnel and their families as the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis escalated.
Chiefs of mission Image Name Type Title Appointed Presented credentials Terminated mission Jon Gundersen May 11, 1992 1 Roman Popadiuk Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary May 11, 1992 June 4, 1992 July 30, 1993 2 William Green Miller Political appointee September 16, 1993 October 21, 1993 January 6, 1998 3 Steven Pifer Career FSO November 10, 1997 January 20, 1998 October 9, 2000 4 Carlos Pascual September 15, 2000 October 22, 2000 May 1, 2003 5 John E. Herbst July 1, 2003 September 20, 2003 May 26, 2006 6 Political appointee May 30, 2006 June 21, 2006 May 23, 2009New U.S. ambassador Tefft arrives in Kyiv, Interfax-Ukraine (December 2, 2009) 7 John F. TefftEx-US ambassador to Georgia John Tefft to lead diplomatic mission in Ukraine, Interfax-Ukraine (September 30, 2009)Yushchenko accepted credentials of US Ambassador and Ambassador of Turkey to Ukraine, UNIAN (December 7, 2009) Career FSO November 20, 2009 December 7, 2009 July 9, 2013 8 Geoffrey R. PyattYanukovych accepts credentials from new US ambassador, discusses with him Ukrainian-US relations, Interfax-Ukraine (15 August 2013)Welcome, Mr. Pyatt!, Den (5 August 2013) July 30, 2013 August 15, 2013 August 18, 2016 9 Marie Yovanovitch May 18, 2016 August 29, 2016 May 20, 2019 Joseph Pennington Chargé d'Affaires ad interim May 20, 2019 May 28, 2019 Kristina Kvien May 28, 2019 June 18, 2019 William B. Taylor Jr. Political appointee June 18, 2019 January 1, 2020 Kristina Kvien Career FSO January 1, 2020Kuleba welcomes nomination of Keith Dayton for new U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Interfax-Ukraine (5 May 2020) May 29, 2022 10 Bridget Brink Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary May 18, 2022 May 30, 2022 April 21, 2025 John Ginkel Chargé d'Affaires ad interim April 21, 2025 May 5, 2025 Julie Davis May 5, 2025 June 27, 2026 Daniel Bischof June 27, 2026 July 8, 2026 Sandra Oudkirk July 8, 2026 August 23, 2026 Paul R. Houston August 23, 2026 Present
See also Ukraine–United States relations Ambassadors of the United States Embassy of the United States, Kyiv Embassy of Ukraine, Washington, D.C. Ambassadors of Ukraine to the United States of America
Notes
References United States Department of State: Background notes on Ukraine
External links United States Department of State: Chiefs of Mission for Ukraine United States Department of State: Ukraine United States Embassy in Ukraine