US official tells Kyiv “you are losing” amid pressure to accept peace deal

During a meeting in Kyiv last week, U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll delivered a stark warning to Ukrainian officials, telling them their forces faced an increasingly dire battlefield outlook and were at risk of imminent defeat by Russia, according to two sources who spoke to NBC News.

Driscoll said Russian forces were intensifying their aerial attacks and had the capacity to continue fighting indefinitely. He argued that Ukraine’s position would deteriorate further over time and that negotiating a peace deal now would be preferable to bargaining from a weaker position later.

The U.S. delegation also conveyed that the American defence industry could no longer supply Ukraine with weapons and air-defence systems at the pace required to protect its infrastructure and civilians. Driscoll’s warning came after he presented a U.S.-backed peace proposal that Kyiv viewed as amounting to capitulation to Moscow, the sources said. One source summarised the message as: “You are losing — and you need to accept the deal.”

The meeting was part of a broader push by some Trump administration officials to pressure Ukraine into accepting the peace plan swiftly. The proposal aligned with Russia’s maximalist demands and would require significant concessions from Kyiv, multiple Western officials said. Ukraine declined to agree to the plan as presented, and the document has since undergone major revisions.

The episode highlighted a widening internal rift in the Trump administration over how to end the war. One faction — including Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and others — views Ukraine as the main obstacle to peace and seeks to use U.S. leverage to compel Kyiv to compromise. Another faction — represented by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other officials — argues that Russia is responsible for the war and must face sustained pressure, including sanctions.

President Trump has oscillated between these competing approaches. After the initial plan leaked — a 28-point proposal shaped partly through discussions between Witkoff and Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev in Miami — it drew criticism for embracing Russia’s demands. The document even included provisions contradicting prior U.S. positions, such as language implying limitations on U.S. military forces in Poland. Some senators said Rubio told them it was drafted by Russians, though Rubio and the White House later denied that and called it a U.S. proposal with Russian and Ukrainian “input.”

In an unusual step, Driscoll, rather than a senior diplomat, was tasked with briefing Ukraine on the plan during his previously scheduled visit on drone technology. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed serious doubts about the proposal but did not reject diplomatic talks outright.

Following pushback from Ukraine, European governments, and some senior Republicans, Rubio travelled to Geneva for negotiations. Key provisions seen as unacceptable to Kyiv were removed or revised, and Rubio described the document as rapidly evolving. By Tuesday, November 25, the Ukrainians signalled cautious optimism toward the now 19-point version of the plan, with national security chief Rustem Umerov saying both sides had reached a “common understanding” on core terms.

Driscoll then travelled to Abu Dhabi for further discussions with a Russian delegation. However, the revised plan began to resemble earlier proposals Russia had rejected. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who had welcomed the initial draft, suggested Moscow might now oppose the updated version, claiming it strayed from understandings reached between Trump and Putin at their August meeting in Anchorage.

The internal divide within the Trump administration — between officials favouring a Russia-leaning settlement and those insisting on maintaining pressure on Moscow — has complicated U.S. diplomacy. European allies and senior Republican lawmakers have backed the latter camp. Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor warned that if the split continues, sustaining a coherent policy will be difficult.

Trump, for his part, has said the peace plan is being “fine-tuned” and that he hopes to meet with Zelenskyy and Putin only once the agreement is final or nearly so.

By Tamilla Hasanova