The First Lady in Kyiv and The U.S. Embassy Ready for Reopening
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A team of senior American diplomats returned to the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv on Sunday for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine. This time you had Jill Biden, the first lady. A move that coincided with Victory in Europe Day and one day ahead of a planned Russian celebration of its military might.
“Just arrived in Kyiv! Delighted to be back on Victory in Europe Day,” the Embassy posted on Twitter with a photo of the chargé d’affaires, Kristina Kvien.
The arrival of the diplomats on the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s surrender in 1945 marked the first step toward a planned reopening of the American Embassy in the Ukrainian capital. All U.S. diplomats were ordered out of the country shortly before Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion.
While the embassy was not yet officially reopened, the return of U.S. diplomats amounted to a symbolic reminder to President Vladimir V. Putin that his initial goal of capturing Kyiv failed, and put Moscow on notice that the West is supporting Ukraine’s government more than ever.
On Monday, Mr. Putin will oversee a major Victory Day military parade, and Western officials believe he may use the occasion to claim success in Ukraine despite major setbacks to his forces there. Some fear that Mr. Putin may also use the day to escalate the conflict.
President Biden last month nominated a veteran diplomat, Bridget A. Brink, to serve as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, a position that has been vacant for three years. For now, the American team in Kyiv will be led by the chargé d’affaires, Ms. Kvien, who has been working with her colleagues from Poland for the past several weeks.
After a visit to Ukraine last month, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said the United States would begin to restore a diplomatic presence in the country. Last week, the diplomats began returning to the eastern city of Lviv for brief day trips.
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