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Army Secretary Dan Driscoll arrived in Kyiv Wednesday as the U.S. moves to jump-start talks to end the Russia–Ukraine war.
Driscoll, accompanied by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, visited the war-torn country ahead of War Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has yet to travel to Ukraine or meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Any such trip, however, would require Hegseth’s approval.
Also traveling with the secretary are Lt. Gen. Chris Donahue, the Army’s commanding general for Europe and Africa; Maj. Gen. Michael Buzzard, the commanding general for the Security Assistance Group–Ukraine; Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Weiner of Army Special Operations Command; and Col. Dave Butler.
The group is set to meet with Zelenskyy, Ukrainian military, and defense industry leaders and lawmakers.
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“Secretary Driscoll and his team arrived this morning in Kyiv on behalf of the administration on a fact-finding mission to meet with Ukrainian officials and discuss efforts to end the war,” Butler said in a Wednesday statement confirming the trip.
The White House has been quietly developing a fast-moving new peace outline. Envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev held talks in Miami for three days in late October, Axios reported Tuesday.
The administration designated Driscoll as a special representative to help kick-start the peace process, though he is not carrying the reported proposal to Ukraine, a defense official told Fox News Digital.
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His team is working to secure a future meeting with the Russian side but such an engagement is not expected to occur during this trip, the official added.
Driscoll and his team also are meeting with Ukrainian defense industry leaders to discuss a potential deal involving drone technology exchange. The Army has prioritized learning from Ukraine’s success in developing and producing armed drones that have proven pivotal in striking deep behind enemy lines.
“We want Ukrainians to build relationships with the American industrial base because we want to pull those lessons learned from” the war, the official said.
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The Army aims to produce 1 million drones over the next two to three years — a tall order for the U.S. industrial base.
Ukraine has the capacity to produce 8 million drones per year, Zelenskyy said in July.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy is in Turkey in an effort to revive direct talks with Russia.
The conflict he once thought could end in 24 hours has increasingly exasperated President Donald Trump, who has alternated between sympathy for Russia’s position and support for Ukraine.
However, his administration just approved another $105 million sale of Patriot missile launchers and related parts to Ukraine, and Ukraine said it used long-range U.S.-made Army tactical missile systems to strike deep inside Russia — which would signal a reversal of U.S. policy that limited use of its resources to strike in Russian territory.
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Ukraine watchers remain skeptical that Zelenskyy will be more flexible on a deal than he has been in the past.
Facing mounting political pressure at home over an energy corruption scandal that has ensnared members of his inner circle, Zelenskyy’s government may soon face a challenge from the nationalist right — political factions even less likely to accept a compromise.
“It’s a death blow politically if he accepts a bad deal,” one foreign policy analyst said. “His party is in (not fully public yet) revolt, and a unity government with more nationalist parts of the opposition is way less likely to go along with this.”
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