By Alayna Treene, Kevin Liptak, Matthew Chance, CNN

(CNN) — The Trump administration has been quietly hammering out a new peace plan with Russia to end its war with Ukraine, a person familiar with the talks told CNN.

The president’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who has been at the center of the administration’s talks with Moscow, has been leading the effort, the source said. The negotiations accelerated this week as the administration feels the Kremlin has signaled a renewed openness to a deal, the source added.

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and a top-level Pentagon delegation arrived this morning in Ukraine “on a fact finding mission to meet with Ukrainian officials and discuss efforts to end the war,” Army Spokesperson Col. Dave Butler said in a statement.

The mission, at the direction of the president, was part of the White House effort to resuscitate peace talks, according to a separate source who is a US official.

Driscoll was expected to discuss battlefield conditions and weapons needs with President Volodymyr Zelensky and other senior Ukrainian officials, as well as the nascent peace efforts, the official said.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the US delegation traveling to Kyiv.

In a post on Telegram, Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal wrote that he had the honor of meeting with Driscoll, posting a photo of the two men shaking hands.

Shmyhal expressed “gratitude” to the US for its “important support that saves the lives of Ukrainians every day.” He added that he “presented to partners our developments in the field of defense innovations” and “focused on the next steps to implement the historic defense agreements reached by President Zelensky and President Trump.”

Driscoll has not been publicly involved in the last rounds of peace talks, but he is a close ally of Vice President JD Vance, with whom he attended Yale Law School. He has focused on military acquisitions.

Other officials traveling with Driscoll to Kyiv were Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George; Gen. Chris Donahue, the top US Army commander in Europe; and Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Weimer.

Russian sources also confirmed to CNN that there are ongoing high-level contacts between US and Russian officials, including Witkoff.

Russian Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev went to the US in October to meet Witkoff and others and had what a Russian source told CNN were “very productive discussions.”

According to an Axios report, the current draft being hashed out between Washington and Moscow is focused on 28 points, including security guarantees for Ukraine and Europe, as well as future US relations with Russia and Ukraine.

The Kremlin on Wednesday downplayed the Axios report. When asked about it, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that there are “no new developments to report so far” regarding an end to the war.

“There were discussions in Anchorage. Beyond what was discussed in Anchorage, there have been no updates yet,” he said, referencing a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump in Alaska in August.

Europe and Ukraine’s involvement in the talks so far remains unclear, the source familiar said, as well as whether they would support such a plan.

The White House declined to respond to a request for comment.

The discussions come as the Trump administration has tried repeatedly to find an end to the war, only for talks to fall apart after Putin refused to make substantial commitments to the effort.

“I thought that was going to be my easy one, because I have a good relationship with President Putin, but I’m a little disappointed in President Putin right now,” Trump said during remarks at a US-Saudi investment conference Wednesday. “He knows that.”

After Trump spoke with Putin by phone last month, he was so convinced there was enough progress made that he announced would soon be traveling to Budapest for an in-person summit with the Russian leader.

But just five days later, the summit was off and new sanctions on Moscow — the first of Trump’s second administration — were on.

US officials told CNN that in the time between, the president and his administration came to the conclusion that Putin’s stance on ending the war had not significantly shifted from the last time he met Trump on a US air base in Alaska.

Previous US peace talks had focused on freezing Russian and Ukrainian troops along current battle lines. Europe and Ukraine backed the plan as a jumping off point for fresh negotiations, while the Kremlin rejected the proposal, arguing they were not interested in a ceasefire but a longer-term peace deal.

CNN’s Haley Britzky contributed to this report.

This story and headline have been updated with additional information.

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