The timing Thursday could not have been better for our first – and likely last – Monitor event with the outgoing Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Olga Stefanishyna.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had just met with President Donald Trump in the White House two days earlier, after attending the memorial service for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham. Over the past year, the Trump-Zelenskyy relationship has transformed amid a remarkable warming of President Trump’s views of the embattled Ukrainian leader.
MAGA influencer Laura Loomer also recently met with President Zelenskyy, in Kyiv, and reversed her opinion of him. Now, like Mr. Trump, she speaks positively of him – calling him a “wartime leader” and an “essential ally.” Ms. Loomer and Mr. Trump speak frequently.
Why We Wrote This
Ukrainian Ambassador Olga Stefanishyna met reporters at a Monitor Breakfast, in the wake of a Trump-Zelenskyy White House meeting and headlines about Ukraine bombing an Iranian cargo ship in the Caspian Sea.
In another eye-popping moment, last weekend, Ukraine bombed an Iranian cargo ship in the Caspian Sea, raising the possibility that the world’s two biggest international conflicts – centered on Iran and Ukraine – could merge into one. But at our event, part of the Monitor Breakfast newsmaker series, Ambassador Stefanishyna said the bombing of the cargo ship was “unintentional.”
“We are in a position where we defend ourselves against aggression,” Ms. Stefanishyna said, speaking of Russia. “This is the only intention we have.”
But perhaps most remarkable about our session with the ambassador is that she’s already heading back to Ukraine, after less than a year on the job. In a country with a long-standing problem with corruption, and two independent institutions tackling it, she herself faces allegations including embezzlement of government funds. There are also questions around an apartment registered to her parents in Kyiv. Ms. Stefanishyna maintains her innocence, and is going home to fight the allegations.
She says resigning was her decision, not a request from Mr. Zelensky. “In fact, he doesn’t want me to resign,” she said.
The ambassador has an impressive résumé, including stints as former deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration and former minister of Justice.
And she’s from a country that has had many women in high-profile positions – including her predecessor as ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova. Until July 16, Ukraine’s prime minister was Yulia Svyrydenko, who resigned amid a wider reshuffle of the government.
Still, Ms. Stefanishyna says that she feels excluded from the Ukrainian leadership because of her gender.
“You know, I wasn’t participating in all the meetings because this is a men’s club, right?” she told the assembled reporters.
At the end of our session, Ms. Stefanishyna came back to this topic.
“I’m writing a book about that,” she said. And, she added, she’s looking for an agent, if anyone has any suggestions.
Read more about the breakfast: “Kyiv’s ambassador on how Ukraine revived vital ties with US,” by Monitor staff writer Howard LaFranchi.