Trump tasks US Army secretary with Russia-Ukraine negotiations
Global News
In a matter of days, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll vaulted to a key negotiator in the Trump administration's push to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
In a matter of days, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll vaulted from being the leader of a military bureaucracy — where he’s been cutting red tape to quickly buy inexpensive drones — to a key negotiator in the Trump administration’s push to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
The boyish Iraq War veteran, former venture capitalist and friend of Vice President JD Vance went from presenting U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv to sitting down with Russian officials in the United Arab Emirates on Monday and Tuesday, heading up the latest phase of talks on a possible deal to halt the fighting.
Trump appears to believe Driscoll’s efforts are going well, posting on social media that “my team has made tremendous progress.”
“In the hopes of finalizing this Peace Plan,” Trump wrote Tuesday, “I have directed my Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with President Putin in Moscow and, at the same time, Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll will be meeting with the Ukrainians.”
It’s an unlikely assignment for the Army’s top civilian leader, who got the job in February at age 38. His Senate confirmation hearing focused on how the Army could modernize its systems, improve recruiting and beef up the military industrial base, not international diplomacy.
Driscoll only learned of his new role as a negotiator about a week before he was sitting across the table from Zelenskyy, a U.S. official said.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive plans, said Driscoll always had planned to visit Ukraine but the trip was aimed at learning more about how its military has been using drones in warfare, not to negotiate peace.
The official said after Driscoll was named as a special representative by the White House, he first traveled to Europe for briefings before heading to Ukraine.
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