Ex-US Army chief names decisive factor for Ukraine to defeat Russia
Photo: former US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll (Getty Images)
Former US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll stated that the conduct of the war has reached a turning point - and that technological superiority will give Ukraine a chance to defeat Russia. This is his first public statement since resigning from the Trump administration, according to CBS News.
Speaking in Kyiv at the Yalta European Strategy forum, an annual conference by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation on Ukraine's place in the Western security architecture, Dan Driscoll made his first public appearance since leaving the Trump administration.
According to him, the war is currently going through a pivotal phase: even the world's most powerful armies are struggling to keep pace with the scale and speed of innovations dictated by the modern battlefield. Driscoll attended the event wearing a tie with a Ukrainian pattern.
Joining him on stage was Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google and now head of the US defense company Perennial Autonomy, which operates in Ukraine. The discussion was moderated by CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria.
Driscoll and Schmidt separately highlighted Ukraine's Delta system - a program that consolidates information from radars, sensors, and directly from military personnel, forming a comprehensive picture of the battlefield. In Driscoll's assessment, its capabilities surpass anything currently operated by the US Army.
In his view, with the growth of computing power and the development of artificial intelligence, Ukraine will have a chance to outpace Russia both technologically and organizationally.
When the moderator pointed out the gap between the number of drones the US will purchase this year and those Ukraine is capable of producing, a remark came from the audience by former CIA Director David Petraeus, who estimated that Ukraine's production capacities might be even higher than the stated forecasts.
When the US faced a shortage of countermeasures against Iranian drones, the solution was found not among major defense contractors, but through Schmidt's company, which rapidly scaled up the supply of interceptor drones and reconnaissance-strike systems, both of which are already well-known from their practical application in Ukraine.
Schmidt noted that the decision to collaborate was made literally with a single phone call, although the question remains whether such a need could have been planned in advance.
In recent months, Washington appears to be stepping back from efforts to analyze Ukraine's wartime experience. A specialized unit dedicated to this very task was disbanded in August, and several of its key supporters within the military leadership were either dismissed or forced into early retirement this year.
Driscoll did not comment on these personnel decisions. He defended the overall course of support for Ukraine, while acknowledging that it has proven to be more modest than Kyiv had expected.
Despite this, he said, relations between the countries have been sustained by a genuine desire to see Ukraine succeed - even if they have not always met expectations. He personally decided that he could be more useful acting outside of government structures rather than within them.
Servant of the People parliamentary faction leader Davyd Arakhamia previously suggested when Russia might return to the negotiating table - in his assessment, this could happen in early October, following the Russian State Duma elections.
According to a source cited by RBC-Ukraine, the efforts of Witkoff and Kushner could lead to an energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia this winter—the American side argues this by pointing out that Russia failed to achieve its objectives during previous winters.
