By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters).- U.S. President Joe Biden has nominated Bridget Brink to serve as the next Ambassador to Ukraine. She is a former diplomat and will likely easily gain confirmation for the crucial post that was vacant for three years, Senate aides reported.

Just two weeks after Biden submitted her nomination to Senate, Brink was confirmed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Brink, who is a Michigan native but speaks Russian fluently, serves as the U.S. ambassador in Slovakia. For 25 years, she has been a career diplomat. She worked in Uzbekistan as well in Georgia.

Biden’s co-deputies, Democrats, and Republicans, said that they didn’t anticipate her difficulty winning confirmation. They cited the short period between her announcement and the confirmation hearing. This would have required bipartisan approval.

Brink’s confirmation was unanimously voted in 2019. She was nominated by Donald Trump for her position at Bratislava.

In recent years many nominees for Ambassadorships waited several months before being confirmed by Senate. This is a reflection of Washington’s deeply partisan divisions.

This post was vacant after Trump recalls Marie Yovanovitch (the U.S. ambassador in Ukraine) in May 2019.

As Trump faced impeachment, Yovanovitch was called to testify at the hearings. He had been charged with withholding military aid to Ukraine President Volodomyr Zilenskiy in an attempt to force him to investigate Biden. Biden is Trump’s likely rival in 2020.

Trump was impeached by the Democratic-led House of Representatives. The Republican-led Senate found him not guilty.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Congress and Biden have increased their support for Zelenskiy’s government.

On Monday, Congressional leaders agreed to speed nearly $40 Billion in extra aid to Kyiv – most of it as military assistance.

Aides stated that they were not expecting for Zelenskiy’s detention by either of the parties of their ambassador during the conflict.