On his 460th day in office, President Biden announced the nomination of Bridget Brink to be ambassador to Ukraine.
Brink is currently the U.S. Ambassador to the Slovak Republic. The current acting ambassador, Kristina Kvien, has been in that position since January 2020. The last Senate-confirmed ambassador to Ukraine was Marie Yovanovitch, who was confirmed by voice vote in the Senate on July 14, 2016.
As the Partnership for Public Service noted, by the end of the 2021 calendar year, “Biden nominated 644 people for presidentially appointed Senate-confirmed positions, more than President Donald Trump had in the same time frame (555) and slightly fewer than President Barack Obama (653) and President George W. Bush (677).” Of the 799 government positions the group tracks, 345 nominees have been confirmed by the Senate, 154 are being considered, six have expected nominees that have not been formally named, and 111 positions have no nominee. It is a little surprising that ambassador to Ukraine didn’t get higher priority, since the administration was calling attention to the Russian troop buildup back in April 2021.
An administration cannot blame the Senate for dragging its feet on confirming ambassadorial nominations if the administration doesn’t make those nominations.