🔗 Share this article

The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an surprising diplomat for the Trump administration latest initiative 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 center of President Trump's recent effort to conclude the war.

Before his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or diplomat, and his early efforts to sell the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

His strong ties with Vance, with whom he studied and shares a close friendship, indicate the rising influence of the non-interventionist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Role in Peace Efforts

This was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky initial trip to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against demands from the US to accept a quick settlement that Ukrainian leaders have called a surrender.

After a chaotic first year in power, foreign policy decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a small group of Trump's key aides, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a vocal supporter of the recent plan, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every criticism of the peace framework the administration is working on either misunderstands the framework or misstates some critical situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Efforts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial efforts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to restore relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance said held restrictionist and conservative positions similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the new ceasefire proposal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In posts this past weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a truce that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to both sides, and stop the war from restarting.

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed negotiators or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he continued. “An agreement could be made by smart people living in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who continued on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his staff with securing a agreement on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that expressed by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the government who has transitioned from a shaky position inside the White House to more stable footing.

Rubio was part of a US team that traveled to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials to help refine the initial 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to authorities in Kyiv.

But, his first reaction to the deal was tepid:

“Stopping a complex and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough exchange of substantive and realistic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “Furthermore, achieving a lasting ceasefire will necessitate both sides to consent to difficult but necessary compromises. This is the reason we are and will continue to develop a list of potential ideas for ending this conflict drawing from input from each party of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to clarify that the agreement was just a initial proposal from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the administration.

“The Secretary made a call to us this afternoon and I believe he emphasized 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 peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “It is presented as a solid structure for continuing negotiations. It is derived from feedback from the Russian side. However, it is additionally informed by earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”