President Volodymyr Zelensky is trying to find someone influential enough to become Ukraineʼs ambassador to the United States, but potential candidates are reluctant to accept the position. Itʼs also difficult to find someone influential enough.
Politico writes about this, citing two former Ukrainian high-ranking officials and four deputies.
Sources say Zelensky accelerated his plans for personnel reshuffles to offer the ambassadorship to former Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko. However, she declined, which thwarted his plans.
Other potential candidates have also been reluctant to accept the position due to the need to work with the unpredictable administration of Donald Trump, the journalists added. An unnamed former Ukrainian diplomat said that currently in Ukraine there are “people who want to get this position, but there is no one who really meets its level”.
Politico believes that Ukraine may be left without an ambassador to the United States at a difficult moment — when decisions are being made about the supply of weapons, air defense, logistics, and intelligence sharing, and when they can discuss the terms of a possible new peace process.
What preceded
On August 3, President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Stefanyshyna from her position as Ukraineʼs ambassador to the United States, which she had held since August 2025. She said that leaving the post was her "own decision, dictated by personal circumstances".
Stefanishyna received her first suspicion in October 2019 in the NABU case regarding a tender for the purchase of services at the Ministry of Justice in 2013, which involved Olena Lukash, an associate of former President Viktor Yanukovych.
On August 5, 2026, anti-corruption authorities handed her a new suspicion — of illicit enrichment and false declaration. According to the investigation, she did not declare two apartments in Kyiv, the costs of their renovation, housing rental, use of a Mercedes car, as well as payment for air tickets and her motherʼs treatment.
Prior to this, the position of Ukraineʼs ambassador to the United States was held by Oksana Markarova (from February 25, 2021 to August 27, 2025). In September 2024, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, called on Zelensky to dismiss her, accusing the ambassador of alleged unreliability and ineffectiveness as a diplomat. At that time, Volodymyr Zelensky refused to discuss Markarovaʼs dismissal with Speaker Johnson.
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