On August 27, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree appointing Olga Stefanyshyna as Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States of America. The head of state reported this in his official message, noting that “formal procedures have been completed”. Thus, he dismissed Oksana Markarova from the relevant position and from the position of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Antigua and Barbuda on a part-time basis.
This became known from the Decree of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.
“I just spoke with Olga Stefanyshyna, now the new Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States of America. I identified key tasks for updating the work of our embassy, and most importantly, to fully implement all agreements with Washington – our agreements with President Trump, and primarily in the defense sector,” Zelensky wrote.
He emphasized that it is precisely on relations with the United States that the long-term guarantee of Ukraine’s security largely depends.
“In many ways, the long-term security of Ukraine depends on relations with America,” the document says.
As is known, since July 2025, Stefanishyna has held the position of Special Presidential Envoy for the Development of Cooperation with the United States. Previously, she was Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine and Minister of Justice.
Also in 2017-2019, she headed the Government Office for Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration. It was then, at the age of 22, that she came to work at the Ministry of Justice. With the coming to power of Viktor Yanukovych in 2010, she began to hold managerial positions there. Already under Poroshenko, she moved to the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers. In 2020, she was appointed Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration for the second time. And in the last parliamentary elections, she unsuccessfully ran for the Verkhovna Rada from the “Ukrainian Strategy of Groysman”.
She actively participated in negotiations with the United States, in particular in the creation of the US-Ukraine Recovery Investment Fund, the purchase of American weapons, as well as the implementation of the agreement on critical minerals. In addition, Stefanishyna worked to accelerate the negotiation process on Ukraine’s accession to the EU.
It is also worth noting that the newly appointed ambassador was previously reported in the context of a high-profile investigationIn October 2022, Stefanishyna’s mother, Nadiya Kravets, became the owner of a three-room apartment with an area of about 100 m² in the Lvivska Ploshcha residential complex in Kyiv. The property was purchased for 3,042,692 hryvnias – about $83,205 at the exchange rate at the time.
Journalists found out that this amount is significantly lower than the market price: according to the developer, at that time the cost of a similar apartment started at 12 million hryvnias, or $300,110. In addition, it turned out that Stefanishyna uses this apartment.
In a comment to Bihus.Info, she explainedthat her parents invested in real estate back in 2019, when the cost per square meter was 29 thousand hryvnias. The official added that the apartment will be declared from January 1, 2026. Interestingly, the journalists who covered the official’s property were detained.
Stefanishyna’s family also appeared in the investigation of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office: her ex-husband allegedly influenced assets through ARMA, and persons associated with him received five objects for management (including the Trade Union Building).
Reference: Stefanishyna was born in 1985. In 2008, she graduated from the Faculty of International Law of the Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, received the qualification of an international lawyer and an English translator, and in 2016 she received a specialist diploma in “Finance and Credit” from the Odessa National Economic University.
Photo: Olga Stefanishyna / Facebook
Author: Inna Mikhno