Reports emerged during the day on Nov. 18 saying that President Donald Trump had dispatched Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to Kiev with two four-star officers—Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George and commander of U.S. Army Europe Gen. Christopher Donahue. According to Politico, their two goals are “to engage Ukrainian leadership on the stalled peace process with Russia,” and to advance toward “a major deal to exchange drone and autonomous munitions technologies,” based on Ukraine’s supposed prowess with drones.
The Wall Street Journal played up the potential for military officers to get Kiev (or, what’s left of the Zelenskyy government) interested in negotiations towards a settlement. “Secretary Driscoll is traveling to Ukraine to get a sense of facts on the ground. He will participate in meetings in Ukraine and report his findings back to the White House,” said a senior administration official. Steve Witkoff, who has been the administration’s point man on negotiations with the Kremlin, helped prepare Driscoll for the talks in Kiev, one of the officials said. The Journal also noted that Driscoll has been friends with Vice President J.D. Vance since their days at Yale Law School, and that the idea of sending Driscoll to Kiev on a supposed peace mission came out of a conversation between Trump and Vance.
