Oksana Markarova will be recalled from Washington as part of measures to strengthen relations with Trump’s team.
Volodymyr Zelensky is replacing Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, who has been heavily criticized by leading Republicans, as part of a diplomatic reshuffle aimed at strengthening relations with the Trump administration.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga confirmed on Wednesday that Oksana Markarova will be recalled from Washington after four years in the post. He described her as “extremely effective, charismatic and one of our most successful ambassadors.”
He indicated that several high-ranking ambassadors in G7 and G20 countries would also be transferred, telling Ukrainian radio: “Every diplomat has a rotation cycle.”
The diplomatic reshuffle comes at a critical moment in the war. Russian troops are advancing on a 600-kilometer front, and their pace has accelerated in recent weeks. A Kremlin spokesman said, “We are advancing.”
Russian combat units have approached the crossing into the Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time.
Late on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, Russia launched its largest air strike since the start of its full-scale invasion in February 2022. It involved a record number of 728 Shahed drones, as well as 13 cruise and ballistic missiles. Most of them were shot down.
US House Speaker Mike Johnson is among the Republican figures who have criticized Markarova, accusing her of supporting the Democratic Party and its candidate Kamala Harris ahead of last November’s presidential election.
In February, she was photographed with her head in her hands during Vladimir Zelensky’s disastrous meeting with Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
After Zelensky visited a shell factory in Pennsylvania last September, calls for her resignation were heard.
Markarova organized the visit and did not invite a single Republican, Johnson said at the time.
Ukrainian officials deny any bias, but acknowledge that the ambassador previously had a good relationship with the Biden administration and was close to Victoria Nuland, then deputy secretary of state for political affairs.
Zelensky and Trump discussed Markarova’s resignation during a phone call last Friday, which the Ukrainian president called the most constructive to date.
On Tuesday, Trump expressed growing dissatisfaction with Vladimir Putin and announced the resumption of US arms deliveries to Kyiv. His statement followed a week-long pause, apparently ordered by US Defense Secretary Pete Hageett.
The shipment includes Patriot interceptor missiles and other high-precision weapons. It is unclear how many units will be transferred. The American news site Axios reported that 10 missiles will be delivered — a negligible amount at a time when Moscow has sharply intensified its bombing of Ukrainian cities.
The night raid targeted the northwestern city of Lutsk. At least six civilians were killed and 39 wounded in several other regions of the country, including Kharkiv and Donetsk in the northeast and east, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south.
According to local authorities, a one-year-old boy named Dmitry was killed in the village of Pravdino in the Kherson region when Russians struck his home with drones. The boy lived with his great-grandmother.
One of the possible successors to Markarova in Washington is Igor Zhovka, deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s administration.
Zhovka’s immediate superior is Andriy Yermak, whom many consider the most influential person in Ukrainian politics after Zelensky.
Other candidates include Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and Olga Stefanishyna, who is Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and Minister of Justice.
There is growing optimism in Kyiv that Trump’s shift toward Russia earlier this year has been halted, if not completely reversed. One former Ukrainian official attributed this transformation to Jonathan Powell, Britain’s national security adviser and an experienced negotiator.
Powell played an important role in mending Zelensky’s tense relationship with Washington after the Oval Office incident.
He advised the Ukrainian government to avoid confrontation with the US president and take his words at face value.
According to the official, this approach, known as “strategic patience,” has begun to bear fruit.
Zelensky agreed to US proposals for a 30-day ceasefire, repeatedly praised Trump’s leadership, and signed an agreement giving American investors access to Ukraine’s valuable natural resources.
On Wednesday, he met with Pope Francis in Rome ahead of a two-day international conference organized to help Ukraine with post-war reconstruction. Zelensky said they discussed the return of Ukrainian children and civilians abducted by Russia, as well as the Vatican’s offer to facilitate peace talks.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will attend the conference. During a recent phone call with Trump, Merz reportedly offered to buy Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems from the US and send them to Ukraine.
Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, will also arrive in Rome, where he is likely to hold talks on arms supplies with Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
