The US has appointed a new charge d'affaires in Kiev, Julie Davis, who is the country's ambassador to Cyprus, world agencies reported. Davis speaks Russian and is a diplomat with a rich career, working mainly in former Soviet republics.
Davis will be the highest-ranking US diplomat in Ukraine in the absence of an ambassador. She will combine the ambassadorship in Cyprus with her new role in Kiev.
The last US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, resigned last month after three years in Kiev. She was appointed to the post by Democrat Joe Biden in 2022, shortly after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Trump administration has not yet decided who will be ambassador to Kiev. Julie Davis' nomination comes a day after the signing of a bilateral agreement between the United States and Ukraine on Ukrainian minerals in Washington.
A Russian drone attack on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia injured 14 people, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
At least 10 strikes were carried out on the city, targeting private homes, high-rise buildings, educational institutions and infrastructure facilities.
Based on evidence gathered by the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), an agent of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who directed strikes with missiles, bombs and artillery against Ukrainian forces in the area of the fiercest fighting on the front - around the city of Pokrovsk - was sentenced to 15 years in prison, Ukrinform reported, quoted by BTA, citing a statement from the SSU.
According to the materials on the case, the perpetrator is a 39-year-old recidivist who has already served two terms in prison for robbery.
“During his first sentence in a penal colony in the temporarily occupied Makeyevka, he was recruited by an FSB officer and placed in “waiting mode“, the prosecution documents state. After being released from prison before the start of the full-scale war, the agent moved to a Ukrainian-controlled area and settled in the city of Bilozersk, which is located in the Pokrovsk region.
At the end of 2024 an FSB officer contacted him via a messaging app and tasked him with providing coordinates for strikes against Ukrainian forces.
“The enemy was interested in the location of fortifications, firing positions and reserve command posts of Ukrainian forces. To collect data, the agent personally observed the area or followed the movement of Ukrainian military columns from the window of his apartment,“ the FSB said.
The Ukrainian service said it had identified the traitor, documented his crimes and arrested him at his home in January this year. Based on the evidence presented by the FSB, the court found the agent guilty of treason during martial law.