WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday named a career diplomat as its top envoy in Ukraine, putting another seasoned hand in charge after turbulence in the wartime relationship.
The State Department said that Julie Davis, a Russian speaker who has spent much of her career in the former Soviet Union, will be charge d’affaires in Kyiv, the top embassy position pending the nomination and Senate confirmation of an ambassador.
Ambassador Bridget Brink, also a career diplomat, stepped down last month. She had spent been stationed in Kyiv for three years, a grueling posting during Russia’s invasion.
She was also caught in an increasingly awkward situation after robustly supporting Ukraine under former president Joe Biden and then representing Trump as he dressed down Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an Oval Office meeting.
The appointment of Davis was announced a day after Ukraine and the United States signed a minerals deal, seen by Kyiv as a new way to ensure a US commitment even after Trump opposes military assistance and presses a war settlement that many Ukrainians see as favorable to Russia.
“Ambassador Davis is the president and secretary’s choice,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters, after calling the minerals deal a “significant milestone.”
“President Trump envisioned this partnership between the American people and the Ukrainian people to show both sides’ commitment to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine,” Bruce said.
Davis serves as the US ambassador to Cyprus, a position she will continue concurrently with her new role in Kyiv.

WASHINGTON: A Jordanian man who vandalized businesses in Florida for their perceived support of Israel was sentenced to six years in prison on Thursday for threatening to blow up an energy facility, the US Justice Department said.
Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen, 44, targeted businesses in the Orlando area beginning in June of last year, causing more than $450,000 in damages, according to court documents.
“Wearing a mask, under the cover of night, Hnaihen smashed the glass front doors of businesses and left behind ‘Warning Letters,’” the Justice Department said in a statement.
The letters were addressed to the president of the United States and laid out a series of political demands, it said.
They culminated in a threat to “destroy or explode everything here in whole America. Especially the companies and factories that support the racist state of Israel.”
In one of his attacks, Hnaihen broke into a solar power generation facility in Wedgefield, Florida, and spent hours destroying solar panel arrays, the Justice Department said.
He was arrested on July 11 after another “warning letter” threatening to “destroy or explode everything” was discovered at an industrial propane gas distribution depot in Orlando, it said.