Politico: Zelensky can’t find a Ukrainian ambassador to the US — every candidate says no

Zelensky is struggling to find a new ambassador to the United States after several candidates turned down the post, senior Ukrainian officials and lawmakers told Politico.

Lawmaker Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, who served as deputy prime minister from 2016 to 2019, said candidates with the standing and experience for the job fear they “would not enjoy the conditions they would need to do the job properly.” She said the nominee should come from Zelensky’s inner circle of trusted advisers, but that no one there meets the requirements.

A former Ukrainian diplomat said, “Framing it as if nobody wants the job would be a kind of oversimplification. Of course, there are people who want the job, but there’s no one who really measures up to it.” He said Zelensky will have “a hard time filling the position.”

Zelensky had offered the ambassador post to Yulia Svyrydenko as early as July, shortly after she resigned as prime minister, but she categorically refused, sources told the Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda. Politico’s own sources confirmed the same. Other candidates have since been “equally reluctant,” according to the outlet, which said the appointment will be no easy task given the need to work with the “Trump’s unpredictable White House.”

Oksana Markarova had served as Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States since before Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, remaining in the post through nearly all of Joe Biden’s presidency. Volodymyr Zelensky appointed Olha Stefanishyna, who had previously served as deputy prime minister, to replace her in August 2025.

Stefanishyna was relieved of her post in early August 2026. She said she had resigned of her own accord, “prompted by personal circumstances.” Two days later, Ukraine’s anticorruption agencies notified her that she was suspected of involvement in illegal enrichment and submitting false information in her asset declaration. Her case is now before the courts.