🔗 Share this article

America's Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the Trump administration newest proposal to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong relationship with Vice President Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's latest push to settle the war.

Before his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his early efforts to promote the deal to European policymakers were labeled turbulent.

Driscoll's close ties with Vance, who he studied and shares a close friendship, indicate the rising influence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine war.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous first trip to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again pushing back against demands from the US to agree to a quick settlement that local officials have called a surrender.

Following a tumultuous initial year in office, international actions in the White House are said to be influenced by a handful of Trump's key advisers, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the recent proposal, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“All objection of the ceasefire plan the White House is working on either misunderstands the proposal or misstates some key reality on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Early Efforts and European Responses

Vance's early efforts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while also attempting to restore relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of running from their constituents, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and right-leaning positions similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the recently published ceasefire proposal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a peace framework that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In posts this past weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to produce a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to both sides, and stop the conflict from resuming.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by failed negotiators or officials residing in a dream world,” he continued. “It might be made by intelligent people operating in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who continued on the presentation of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his staff with securing a signature on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has gone from a shaky stature inside the White House to more firm footing.

Rubio was a member of a US delegation that went to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials to help refine the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

But, his initial response to the agreement was tepid:

“Ending a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, securing a lasting ceasefire will necessitate each party to consent to challenging but essential concessions. That is why we are and will persist to develop a list of potential solutions for ending this conflict drawing from input from both sides of this conflict.”

In private, he was said to be much more skeptical of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to explain that the agreement was just a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the administration.

“Rubio did make a phone call to us this day and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was presented to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he later wrote. “It is offered as a strong framework for continuing negotiations. It is derived from input from the Moscow. However, it is also informed by earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”