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The career U.S. diplomat who became the “face” of Washington’s relations with Ukraine has turned in her retirement papers at the most difficult time in the country’s war with Russia.
Victoria Nuland, who some believe was involved in some controversy regarding Ukraine when then-Vice President Joe Biden was also President Obama’s frontman for the country and Hunter Biden was involved with a Ukrainian energy firm, will be leaving the State Department.
“It’s Toria’s leadership in Ukraine that diplomats and students of foreign policy will study for years to come,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a Tuesday statement, per the Washington Examiner. “Her efforts have been indispensable to confronting [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, marshaling a global coalition to ensure his strategic failure, and helping Ukraine work toward the day when it will be able to stand strongly on its own feet — democratically, economically, and militarily.”
Nuland assumed the position of acting deputy secretary of state following the retirement of Deputy Secretary Wendy Sherman last July. She stepped down from this interim role after the confirmation of Deputy Secretary Kurt Campbell, who assumed office last month. Nuland has emerged as one of the most fervent advocates for U.S. support for Ukraine within President Biden’s administration, as Blinken’s team has acknowledged.
“I first got to know Toria during — at the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller on Tuesday. “And the thing that struck me about her from day one was her clarity of purpose and clarity of voice, which I know all of you probably remember well from her.”
The Examiner noted further:
Her departure comes at a difficult juncture of the war in Ukraine as Ukrainian forces are being battered by Russia’s large artillery arsenal while short of ammunition themselves — in part because of a dispute between Biden and congressional Republicans that has caused a protracted lapse in U.S. military assistance to Ukraine.
“Nothing can damage Ukraine more than the lack of the U.S. military aid,” a Ukrainian official told the Washington Examiner while assessing the ramifications of Nuland’s departure.
Previous reports claimed that Nuland was “the mastermind” behind a U.S. effort during the Obama administration to orchestrate a regime change in Ukraine, helping to depose a pro-Russia president and install one more aligned with the West. However, the details of what was actually taking place at the time—the 2014-2016 timeframe—are not clear.
Last month, the U.S. Senate approved a controversial $95 billion national security supplemental package on Tuesday to support Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific region.
Surprisingly, 22 Republicans voted in favor of the package, with a final vote of 70 to 29. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders and Democratic Senators Jeff Merkley and Peter Welch voted against it.
“The supplemental package does not include any border security provisions and comes as the national debt soars above $34 trillion. Calls to offset the spending with cuts elsewhere went unheeded. Several Republicans have spent hours—since the beginning of the weekend—collectively filibustering the package on the Senate floor. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, committed to filibustering the bill for four hours on Saturday and continued early Tuesday,” Fox News reported.
“The package includes $60 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel, $9 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza, and nearly $5 billion for the Indo-Pacific. Democrats brought the package up for a vote after Republicans had blocked the $118 billion package that also included numerous border and immigration provisions—negotiated by a group of bipartisan senators and Biden officials—last Wednesday,” the outlet added.
Since the start of Ukraine’s conflict with Russia in February 2022, the United States has already given more than $100 billion in aid to the country.
Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul sounded off on the package, saying: “This bill gives the finger to American taxpayers. This bill gives the finger to all of America; this bill is Ukraine first, America last.”
The measure ultimately died in the upper chamber after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) declared it “dead on arrival” in the lower chamber.
