High-level Kyiv visit
On Wednesday, a delegation headed by US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll landed in Kyiv and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday. Accompanying Driscoll is Army chief of staff Gen Randy George, top US army commander in Europe Gen Chris Donohue and the Sgt Maj. Of the Army Michael Weimer. This is the most senior US military delegation to visit Kyiv since President Donald Trump took office this past January.
Army spokesman Col David Butler stated the delegation was in Ukraine on a fact-finding mission to meet with officials and discuss next steps to safely end the war. A Ukrainian official said that the discussions would centre around the military situation and potential next steps for a ceasefire. According to that official, Presidents Zelensky and Trump had already agreed to cease combat for the time being along existing lines of engagement and discussed "security guarantees" for Ukraine.
After his meeting with Driscoll, Ukrainian Defence Minister Denys Shmyhal said they discussed the next steps in ordering defence agreements that the presidents had reached.
Reports of a draft peace framework appeared after US envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev were reported to have had talks, supposedly in Miami, and were said to have drafted a 28 point plan. The draft peace framework is said to call for Russia to give up territory in the Donbas that it seeks to keep for its armed forces, and give up a significant amount of its armed forces, and submit even additional weapons. Zelensky has ruled out territorial concessions.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that durable peace requires both sides to think about very difficult concessions and that ideas are still evolving. Meanwhile, the EU’s chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, warned that any proposal would need input from Ukrainians and Europeans. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said that Ukraine would not accept a capitulation.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov downplayed the reports and invoked the “spirit of Anchorage,” brought up for the summit between Putin and Trump in the US state of Alaska.
Escalation on the Ground
The reports of a peace proposal came on the same day as at least 26 people were killed in a Russian missile and drone attack on residential buildings in Ternopil, a city in western Ukraine. Zelensky also mentioned that another 22 people were missing. Zelensky was in Turkey at the time, and some unconfirmed accounts mentioned that a meeting with Trump’s envoy in Ankara was scheduled, but was later cancelled.
Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Russia demands that Kyiv surrender. Russia is expected to give some expected-territorial conditions agreed to by Kyiv, concede territory, and accept limits on its military capabilities as previous pre-conditions. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently mentioned that the preconditions stated would not change since they were laid out in 2024.
In another development, a White House official confirmed special envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg would leave his role as the position involved Senate confirmation after no more than a 360-days. Kellogg has been viewed as a steadfast supporter of Ukraine at a time when Trump supporters have generally appeared more aligned with Russia.
