US Officials: High-Level Pentagon Delegation Heads to Kyiv for Peace Talks

US Officials: High-Level Pentagon Delegation Heads to Kyiv for Peace Talks

Senior U.S. officials have disclosed that the Trump administration dispatched a high-level Pentagon delegation to Kyiv on Wednesday in the latest attempt to restart peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.

According to the officials, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is leading the delegation, accompanied by two four-star Army generals. They are scheduled to hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as other Ukrainian officials and representatives from the military and industry.

Driscoll also plans to meet with Russian officials at a later time. The White House's decision to send Driscoll and senior military figures reflects a belief that Russia might be more receptive to negotiations brokered by the military, as well as frustration with previous attempts that have yielded little progress.

“Secretary Driscoll is in Ukraine to assess the situation on the ground. He will be attending meetings in Ukraine and reporting his findings back to the White House,” one senior government official stated. “The President has made it clear that it is time to stop the killing and reach an agreement to end this conflict.”

Another official said that Driscoll's mission is to represent Trump in relaunching the peace talks. It is worth noting that Pete Hegseth, Driscoll's superior and the Secretary of Defense, has not visited Kyiv since assuming office in January of this year. Sending the civilian head responsible for training and equipping soldiers is unusual, but Trump often utilizes unconventional envoys.

It remains unclear whether Driscoll will convey any new negotiation proposals from the White House to Zelensky, following the White House's previous calls to freeze forces along the current front lines in eastern Ukraine to begin talks to end the conflict.

According to one official, the idea to send Driscoll, who was Vice President JD Vance's classmate at Yale Law School, to Ukraine and Russia originated from a conversation between Trump and Vance.

The Trump administration has repeatedly attempted to reach a negotiated resolution to the military operation launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2022. However, Ukrainian and Russian officials have not held direct talks for months, and U.S. efforts have stalled since an August summit between Trump and Putin in Alaska. Russia has shown little interest in ending the conflict except on its own terms.

In October, Trump canceled a planned meeting with Putin in Budapest after Russian government officials made it clear they had no intention of reaching an agreement. Afterward, Trump imposed new sanctions on a Russian oil company.

The White House initiative comes as Russia has intensified drone and missile attacks across Ukraine in recent weeks, and amid reports of Russian territorial gains in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region.

In addition to discussing the idea of ending the conflict, the U.S. delegation, which includes the top U.S. commander in Europe, Gen. Chris Donahue, and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, is expected to discuss battlefield developments and weapons production during their visit to Kyiv.

Donahue has been a key figure in shipping weapons to Ukraine since he took command of the Army’s 18th Airborne Corps in 2022, when he formed a task force to help coordinate military assistance to Ukraine.

Trump said on Tuesday at the White House that he still hoped he could stop the conflict. “I’ve actually ended eight conflicts. There’s one left that has to be solved with Putin. I’m a little surprised at Putin. It’s taking longer than I thought.”

Driscoll has led an effort to overhaul the Army’s decades-old procurement system. Trump has referred to him as a “killer” and dubbed him the “drone czar,” referring to Driscoll’s focus on deploying 1 million new drones for the Army.

An official revealed that Witkoff, as Trump administration’s point man for negotiations with the Kremlin, helped Driscoll prepare for the talks in Kyiv. The two know each other from their involvement in Trump’s presidential campaign.

Driscoll and George flew to Germany on Monday to listen to intelligence briefings with Donahue at a U.S. military base. They discussed the battlefield situation on maps with soldiers who had been fighting in Ukraine for years. They then flew to Poland on Tuesday and took a late night train to Kyiv.

Few senior U.S. officials have visited Ukraine since Trump returned to the White House. One official said that the visit by the senior Army officials was approved by Hegseth, as military personnel are not allowed to enter without the defense secretary’s approval.