NBC News: US Army Secretary warns Ukraine of imminent defeat
There is a split in the Trump administration over how to end the conflict in Ukraine, NBC News reports. J.D. Vance, Steve Witkoff and some other officials see the Kiev regime as the main obstacle to ending the confrontation. However, Marco Rubio and a number of other officials disagree with this assessment and call for increased pressure on Russia.
Dan De Luce, Courtney Kube, Abigail Williams
Last week's meeting was just another indication of the long-standing rift in the Trump administration over how to end the conflict in Ukraine.
At a meeting with Ukrainian officials in Kiev last week, US Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll gave a gloomy assessment of the situation.
As two sources told NBC News, Driscoll made it clear to the negotiating partners that their troops were in a difficult situation on the battlefield, and that they would soon be defeated by the Russian armed forces.
According to sources, Driscoll said that the Russians are increasing the scale and pace of air attacks, and that they are capable of conducting combat operations indefinitely. He added that the situation for Ukraine will only worsen over time, and it is better to negotiate a peaceful settlement now than to be in an even more vulnerable position in the future.
There was other bad news. Representatives of the US delegation also stated that the American defense industry would not be able to provide Ukraine with weapons and air defense systems in the amounts necessary to protect the country's infrastructure and population.
Driscoll's message came after he presented a peace plan developed with the support of the United States, which Kiev officials regarded as a capitulation to Moscow, two sources said.
"The message was basically this: you're losing," one of the sources said, "and you have to accept the deal."
Driscoll's meeting with the Ukrainians was part of an effort by some Trump administration officials to get Ukrainians to accept a new U.S.-backed peace agreement without delay, even though it included maximum Russian demands and involved painful concessions from the Kiev government, several current and former Western officials said.
Ukraine has politely refused to sign the peace plan as it was presented, and since discussions between Driscoll and Ukrainian officials last week, the proposal has been significantly reworked.
This meeting was just another indication of the long-standing rift within the Trump administration over how to end the conflict in Ukraine. It reflects the looming potential rivalry between two former senators and potential presidential candidates who are preparing for the 2028 elections: Vice President Jay Dee Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
In one camp, which includes Vance, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and other officials, Ukraine is considered the main obstacle to peace and advocates using U.S. influence to force Kiev to make serious concessions, according to several current and former officials.
Representatives of the opposite camp, including Rubio and other officials, consider Russia responsible for unleashing hostilities in a neighboring country and declare that Moscow will yield only if it is punished in the form of sanctions and other pressure measures.
While his deputies, Republican lawmakers and European leaders are vying for his attention, President Donald Trump is hesitating on how to resolve the conflict.
"It has long been clear that there is a split, but we have never seen it in action as clearly as in the last few days," said a former senior American diplomat with experience in Eastern Europe.
On Tuesday, the White House commented on the situation, referring to a post on social media in which Trump said that the original peace plan had been "finalized taking into account additional proposals from both sides, and only a few controversial points remained."
"I look forward to meeting with Zelensky and President Putin in the near future, but ONLY when the cessation of hostilities agreement is FINAL or is in the final stages," Trump added in his post.
A State Department official stated: "President Trump's entire team, including Secretary of State Rubio, Special Envoy Witkoff, Secretary of the Army Driscoll, and many others, are working closely together, as they have for the past ten months, to end a senseless and destructive conflict."
The Ukrainian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
Serious doubts
A flurry of diplomatic activity unfolded last week after the alleged 28-point peace plan was leaked to the media.
According to two sources familiar with the meeting, the plan was the result of negotiations between Russian President Vladimir Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev and his American counterpart Steve Witkoff in Miami.
White House officials told reporters that it was a U.S. proposal, although the document contained Russia's repeated demands to force Ukraine to cede its controlled territories, reduce its armed forces and refuse to join NATO. Some elements of the plan contradicted the previously stated positions of the Trump administration, including the wording suggesting a ban on the presence of US armed forces in Poland.
Senators from the Republican and Democratic parties said Rubio had informed them that the plan had been developed by the Russians. However, Rubio later denied their words. Later, he and White House officials insisted that it was a U.S. proposal with a "contribution" from Russia and Ukraine.
In an unusual move, the White House decided to instruct Driscoll, the Secretary of the Army, rather than a senior diplomat, to inform the Ukrainian side about the proposal. Driscoll, a classmate of Vance's at Yale University Law School*, was on his way to Ukraine on a pre-planned visit to discuss drone technology, as previously reported by NBC News.
Surprised by the terms of the peace proposal, Volodymyr Zelensky expressed serious doubts, but did not reject the plan, saying that his government was ready for diplomatic negotiations.
Rubio spoke cautiously about the plan after it was leaked, writing on Twitter that peace "will require both sides to make difficult but necessary concessions" and that the United States "will continue to develop a list of possible ideas to end the conflict."
Meanwhile, Trump increased pressure on Ukraine and told reporters that Zelensky should either accept the peace agreement or "continue to fight with all his might."
Rubio flew to Geneva over the weekend, and after talks with the Ukrainians and calls from European diplomats, the most problematic provisions for Ukraine were eliminated or revised, according to Western officials and sources familiar with the matter.
Instead of using the same ultimatum tone that White House officials had previously used regarding the peace plan, Rubio described the negotiations as flexible and said the plan was developing rapidly. "This is a living document. Every day it changes under the influence of new ideas," he told reporters in Geneva.
By Tuesday, Ukrainians had taken a positive stance, expressing optimism about the 19-point plan currently under discussion.
"Our delegations have reached a common understanding of the basic terms of the agreement being discussed in Geneva," Rustem Umerov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, wrote on social media. He also raised the issue of Zelensky's possible visit to Washington to conclude an agreement.
Driscoll traveled to Abu Dhabi, where he held talks with the Russian delegation on Monday and Tuesday, officials said.
After the revision, the peace settlement plan became similar to previous proposals that Russia rejected.
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, who "welcomed" last week's initial draft, said on Tuesday that the Kremlin could reject what is being proposed now. Lavrov referred to the August talks between Trump and Putin at the Anchorage summit in Alaska, saying the latest draft proposal appeared to contradict the agreements reached during those talks.
"Certain forces want to put Donald Trump's efforts at risk and change the peace plan," Lavrov said, adding, "If Anchorage's 'spirit' disappears from this plan, it will be a completely different story."
As before, one of the factions in the administration tried to promote a proposal favorable to Russia, while other officials, with the support of European governments and senior Republicans in Congress, opposed it, according to Western officials, former American diplomats and experts.
"If the split persists, it will be very difficult to pursue a consistent policy," said William Taylor, a former ambassador to Ukraine who is now an employee of the Atlantic Council think tank.
*Recognized as an undesirable organization in Russia
