Kyiv — Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Julie Davis will leave her post in June, U.S. officials have confirmed to CBS News.
U.S. officials told CBS News that Davis, who has held the post in Kyiv for almost a year, during a period of abrupt shifts in American policy on Ukraine, is resigning for professional reasons rather than over any disagreements with President Trump.
The Financial Times first reported her imminent departure, saying it came in response to “differences” she had with Mr. Trump.
“It is false to suggest Ambassador Davis is resigning ‘over differences with Donald Trump,'” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott told CBS News on Tuesday. “She is retiring after a distinguished 30-year tenure as a career foreign service officer. She will continue to proudly advance President Trump’s policies until she officially departs Kyiv in June 2026 and retires from the Department.”
A senior U.S. official close to Davis told CBS News that she decided to resign as she did not see a path forward in the State Department consistent with her professional ambitions, and that reports of disagreements with Mr. Trump were “inaccurate.”
Davis assumed her role as interim chargé d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv on May 5, 2025, following the resignation of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink. Brink, a Democrat now running for Congress in Michigan’s 7th District, wrote in an op-ed after stepping down that she “could no longer in good faith carry out the administration’s policy and felt it was my duty to step down.”
While serving as chargé d’affaires in Kyiv, Davis remained accredited as U.S. ambassador to Cyprus, where she has served since 2023, juggling her interim wartime posting with her previous diplomatic obligations.
“Julie Davis is a pro: devoted to U.S. interests and values, to the Free World, and to Ukraine as part of the Free World,” said Daniel Fried, former U.S. Ambassador to Poland, who has known Davis for years.
Davis ushered the embassy in Kyiv through a period of fluctuating U.S. policy on Ukraine, with Mr. Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner often taking the lead in diplomatic efforts instead of career diplomats.
In November, Davis was set to host Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll at the ambassador’s residence during his first visit to Kyiv. But upon his arrival, the Trump administration pressed Ukraine to accept a peace proposal shaped by meetings between Witkoff and Russian negotiators.
That proposal fell through after Moscow refused to accept the terms, but Witkoff and Kushner have continued to lead American diplomatic efforts to end the war since.
In February, American officials mediated two trilateral summits with Ukrainian and Russian negotiators, which Ukrainian officials told CBS News were the most productive diplomatic sessions of the war. But diplomacy has since stalled amid the U.S.’ ongoing war with Iran.
The last meeting between American and Ukrainian negotiators took place on March 22.
Olivia Gazis and
contributed to this report.
