Bridget Brink was confirmed as the United States Ambassador to Ukraine on late Wednesday by the Senate. The veteran American diplomat received bipartisan support to serve as a diplomat amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

United States President Joe Biden said last month that he is nominating Brink for the position. The United States has started sending back its diplomats to Kyiv as the embassy reopens.

Also Read: Here’s how much the war in Ukraine is costing Russia each day

Who is Bridget Brink?

Bridget Brink, whose age is unknown, has been serving as an American diplomat since 1996 and has majorly worked in former Soviet countries. She was first assigned to Belgrade, Serbia after joining the US Department of State.

Brink also held the role of the desk officer in Cyprus and was also the deputy director for southern European affairs, NPR reported. Her job then took her to Tbilisi in Georgia, where she was the deputy chief of mission at the United States embassy between 2011 and 2014. She then went to Tashkent, Uzbekistan for a year.

The State Department then appointed Brink as a senior advisor at the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. Her work majorly focused on issues related to Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, NPR reported.

In 2019, former President Donald Trump nominated Brink as the United States Ambassador to Slovakia, a position she holds to date. However, to serve as the top American diplomat in Ukraine, Brink will have to leave Slovakia.

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Brink was brought up in the state of Michigan. She completed her higher education at renowned institutes like the London School of Economics and Political Science and Kenyon College.

Brink told senators she would work to fully reopen the US embassy in Ukraine’s capital but said she could give no timeframe for that. She noted the outside of the embassy complex appeared to have what she called superficial damage.