Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed replacing Kyiv’s ambassador to Washington, Oksana Markarova, during a 4 July phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, according to people familiar with the conversation cited by Bloomberg and the Financial Times. Markarova, a former finance minister who has represented Ukraine in the United States since February 2021, has faced mounting criticism from Trump-aligned Republicans. The reports say Zelenskyy told Trump he would move quickly to name a successor and that Kyiv’s Foreign Ministry has been instructed to begin consultations with U.S. officials. Candidates under consideration include Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna, Defence Minister Rustem Umerov and Energy Minister German Galushchenko. Any change would occur as U.S.–Ukraine relations are strained by last week’s Trump administration decision to pause some artillery- and air-defence shipments, heightening the stakes for Kyiv’s representation in Washington.