KYIV: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday he had appointed a former deputy prime minister as Kyiv’s new ambassador to the United States, as Washington-backed efforts to halt the war with Russia intensify.Zelensky signed a decree unexpectedly naming Olga Stefanishyna, who is also a former justice minister, to the key post, he said in his evening address posted on social media.“In many ways, Ukraine’s long-term security depends on its relations with America,” he said.
He added that Ukraine was proposing to Washington to strike accords on having Kyiv’s European allies buy US weapons and through an agreement to supply Ukrainian drones to the United States.
Trump has repeatedly criticised the tens of billions of dollars in annual US military and financial aid to Ukraine.
Stefanishyna replaces Oksana Markarova, who as ambassador since 2021 oversaw the flow of US aid under Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.