🔗 Share this article

The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the White House's newest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's close relationship with Vice President Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the forefront of Donald Trump recent push to conclude the conflict.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or statesman, and his early attempts to sell the agreement to European policymakers were described as turbulent.

His strong ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the isolationist vice-president in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

Vance's Role in Ceasefire Negotiations

It was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky initial visit to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is once again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a swift settlement that local officials have called a surrender.

After a chaotic initial year in power, international actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's top advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative adviser 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 relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All objection of the peace framework the White House is developing either misunderstands the framework or misstates some key situation on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Attempts and European Responses

Vance's initial efforts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to renew ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, in turn, were angered by his early remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the recently published peace deal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In posts this past weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a truce that honored Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to each party, and prevent the war from restarting.

“Peace won’t be made by failed diplomats or politicians living in a dream world,” he added. “An agreement could be made by intelligent people living in the real world.”

It was Vance who continued on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his staff with securing a signature on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the administration who has transitioned from a shaky position inside the White House to more firm standing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that went to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help refine the initial 28-point peace plan in order to make it more palatable to authorities in Kyiv.

However, his first reaction to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough exchange of substantive and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, achieving a lasting peace will require both sides to agree to difficult but essential concessions. This is the reason we are and will continue to develop a list of possible ideas for ending this war based on input from both sides of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly 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 contacted legislators to clarify that the agreement was just a initial offer from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the administration.

“The Secretary made a call to us this afternoon and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was presented to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he later stated. “It is presented as a strong structure for ongoing discussions. The proposal is derived from input from the Russian side. But, it is additionally informed by previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”