Senate confirms new U.S. ambassador to Russia

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has voted overwhelmingly to confirm the new U.S. ambassador to Russia. The vote to confirm Lynne M. Tracy as the new ambassador came hours before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was expected to arrive Wednesday in Washington for a historic visit. Senators voted to 93-2 to confirm the career diplomat in what some viewed as a signal of the American commitment to war-torn Ukraine as it confronts Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. Tracy will oversee an embassy in Moscow that has been decimated in terms of staffing as U.S.-Russia ties have plummeted over the war in Ukraine along with several long-standing and unrelated diplomatic disputes over personnel and facilities and compounded by disagreements over arms control.