🔗 Share this article

The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the Trump administration latest initiative to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close relationship with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's recent effort to conclude the war.

Prior to his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his early attempts to promote the agreement to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

His close ties with Vance, who he attended Yale and shares a close friendship, signal the resurgence of the isolationist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Negotiations

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's disastrous first visit to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is again resisting demands from the US to agree to a swift deal that local officials have called a surrender.

Following a tumultuous first year in power, foreign policy actions in the White House are said to be influenced by a handful of Trump's key aides, including top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a vocal advocate of the recent proposal, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the peace framework the White House is developing either misinterprets the framework or misstates some critical reality on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Initial Attempts and European Responses

Vance's initial attempts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial speeches, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance said held anti-immigration and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the recently published peace deal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a peace framework that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In posts this past weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“Peace will not be made by unsuccessful diplomats or politicians living in a fantasy land,” he continued. “It could be made by smart people living in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his staff with obtaining a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Internal Concerns

That was a notably more enthusiastic endorsement of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain position inside the White House to more firm footing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that traveled to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials to help refine the initial 28-point peace plan in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

However, his first response to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive exchange of substantive and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio stated recently. “And, securing a lasting peace will necessitate both sides to agree to difficult but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will persist to develop a set of possible ideas for ending this war based on input from both sides of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more doubtful of the plan. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to clarify that the deal was just a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the administration.

“Rubio made a call to us this day and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was delivered to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he later wrote. “It is offered as a strong framework for continuing discussions. The proposal is based on feedback from the Russian side. However, it is also informed by earlier and current input from Ukraine.”