Former Trump official drinks her daily coffee from a mug with a colorful anti-Putin message

Two groups of people who have an intense disdain for Marie L. Yovanovitch are Donald Trump allies and supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin. But Democrats and Never Trump conservatives, on the other hand, generally have a high opinion of the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine — who, in recent interviews, has had a lot to say about Russia’s brutal invasion of that country. And during an interview with Business Insider, Yovanovitch said that she drinks her morning coffee from a mug that says, “Fuck you, Putin.”

The 63-year-old Yovanovitch, whose new book, “Lessons From The Edge: A Memoir,” was released on March 15, told Business Insider, “I’m here to tell you that your coffee in the morning tastes so much better in that mug.”

The former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine also has a “Fuck you, Putin” bracelet. During the Insider interview, she explained, “Everybody kind of looks at it and gasps and laughs. I think they’re just surprised because I’m, you know, a pretty staid diplomat. They certainly wouldn’t expect me to give them a gift like that.”

Although Yovanovitch calls herself a “pretty staid diplomat” and isn’t known for being brash or strident, she is someone who Trump’s allies — especially former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani — felt very threatened by in May 2019, when she was forced out of her ambassador position. Giuliani wanted Trump to fire Yovanovitch, and Trump did exactly that.

Giuliani and other Trumpistas believed that she would interfere with their scheme to use Ukraine as a weapon against now-President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. When Trump was impeached by House Democrats for trying to bully Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into helping him dig up dirt on the Bidens, Yovanovitch became one of their top witnesses.

One of the ridiculous talking points coming from some Trumpistas, including Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump, is that Putin never would have invaded Ukraine under Trump’s watch because he viewed Trump as a strong leader and feared him. But according to Yovanovitch, Putin “could just sit back and let the good times roll” when Trump was president. Yovanovitch told Business Insider that Trump had a “strong, clear admiration” for Putin and other authoritarians while expressing an obvious disdain for NATO — things that, according to Yovanovitch, “emboldened Putin, there's no question about it.”