Julie Davis, the US ambassador to Cyprus who also serves as acting ambassador in Kyiv, is leaving the State Department disillusioned with President Donald Trump’s declining support for Ukraine, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
Davis, a career diplomat with 30 years of State Department service, is the latest senior official to exit over disagreements on Ukraine policy. Her predecessor in Kyiv, Bridget Brink, left diplomatic service for similar reasons in April last year.
The FT reported that Davis’s decision centres on her belief that Trump is failing to adequately support Ukraine. She was also blindsided last October when she learned through media reports that Trump had nominated John Breslow, an Arizona businessman and Republican donor, as the next US ambassador to Cyprus. She had not been informed of the nomination in advance.
The State Department denied that policy differences were behind her departure. Spokesperson Tommy Pigott called the suggestion “false,” saying Davis had been “a steadfast proponent of the Trump administration’s efforts to bring about a durable peace between Russia and Ukraine” and would continue in her role until she officially departs Kyiv in June 2026 and retires from the department.
Before her posting to Cyprus, Davis served as Special Envoy for Belarus, based in Vilnius, Lithuania. In 2020 she was confirmed as the first US ambassador to Belarus since 2008. Her career also includes postings to Georgia, Ukraine, and Russia, as well as senior roles including Deputy Assistant Secretary for Western Europe and the EU, and Deputy Permanent Representative to NATO.
The US embassy in Kyiv has struggled to retain ambassadors across both of Trump’s terms. In 2019, Trump recalled then-ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, calling her “disloyal” and “bad news.” She later became a key witness in Congressional impeachment hearings.
Brink, who had advocated for military aid to Ukraine, said when she resigned last year that she had opposed White House pressure on Kyiv while the administration absolved Moscow of responsibility.
Her breaking point came when Trump verbally attacked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in February 2025, after which Trump halted military aid and intelligence-sharing with Kyiv for several weeks. Brink is now running for Congress as a Democrat in a competitive Michigan district, accusing Trump of corruption and appeasing Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During Trump’s second term, the White House has largely sidelined the State Department on foreign policy, deploying a small circle of allies — including special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner — to pursue major objectives including brokering an end to the war in Ukraine.
Peace talks have since stalled amid Russian intransigence and the US-Iran conflict. Ukrainian intelligence officials told the FT this month that Moscow is planning a new offensive this summer.
Daniel Fried, a former US ambassador to Poland who has known Davis for several years, praised her record. “She is an exemplary foreign service officer and civil servant,” he said. “She’s a true expert and the administration — whether they realise it or not — needs such people.”
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, praised Davis’s “steady, effective leadership” and her “unique ability to run a crisis post effectively.”
“Important posts like Kyiv cannot and should not be managed through Washington or with stopgap measures,” Shaheen said. “It is imperative for both the US and Ukraine that we have a Senate-confirmed ambassador.”