Former US ambassador to Ukraine reveals how Trump put lives of US diplomats at risk – Reuters

Bridget Brink, former US ambassador to Ukraine, has told Reuters that US President Donald Trump's decision in March 2025 to suspend military aid to Ukraine put at risk not only Ukrainians but also the staff of the US embassy in Kyiv, numbering around 1,000 people.

Source: Brink in a comment to Reuters

Details: The breakdown in relations between Trump's administration and its diplomats stationed around the world was potentially a matter of life and death for Brink.

Brink was serving as the US ambassador in Kyiv when Trump returned to office. The US suspended military assistance and intelligence sharing with Ukraine in March 2025, just days after an explosive meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. Among the military aid put on hold were air defence systems that helped protect not only Ukrainians but also US embassy personnel from Russian drones and missiles.

Quote from Brink: "I had 1,000 people, all civilians, on the ground. And we were protected by Ukrainians using US and other equipment."

Details: Brink said the suspension of military aid had happened without warning.

Quote from Brink: "When we tried to find out why it was stopped, we got no answer."

Details: Brink contacted the Pentagon, the Department of State and the White House – "everywhere that we could, because we were very concerned about what this meant not only for Ukrainians but also for our own security".

Reuters noted that the Pentagon had not responded to a request for comment on her remarks.

Brink also said her staff had worked behind the scenes to persuade Trump's administration to resume aid, which it eventually did on 11 March. However, she never received an official explanation of why the assistance had been suspended in the first place.

Layoffs at the National Security Council (NSC), which traditionally coordinates foreign and defence policy in the White House, further strained relations between Trump's administration and its embassies. Trump reduced the NSC's staffing from hundreds to just a few dozen in 2025.

Reuters reported, citing three current and former US officials in Washington, that NSC staff had not held regular meetings and had effectively been unable to organise interagency national security and foreign policy coordination for months. A White House spokesperson said the NSC had not stopped holding regular or interagency meetings, but they were smaller and focused on Trump's priorities.

According to several officials, staff received little official guidance on key issues such as the war in Ukraine or the future of NATO during that period. Instead, they closely monitored Trump's Truth Social account for political signals. Many NSC staff kept his account open on a separate screen and reacted quickly when he posted.

Under former US president Joe Biden, Brink regularly took part in NSC meetings to develop and coordinate complex wartime policy between Washington and the embassy in Kyiv.

Under Trump, those meetings stopped.

Instead, she was told to "just call people", an ad hoc approach she described as ineffective in a war zone where Russian attacks were routine.

Quote: "We're seven hours ahead [referring to the time difference between Ukraine and the US] and in the bunker almost every night."

Details: Brink noted that the final straw had been Trump's "appeasement" policy on Ukraine – seeking closer ties with Russian leader Vladimir Putin while blaming Ukraine for Russia's aggression.

Background: Brink resigned in protest in April 2025. She announced two months later that she was running for the US House of Representatives as a Democrat from Michigan.

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