🔗 Share this article

America's Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the White House's newest proposal to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's close relationship with Vice President Vance has placed a key ally of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of Donald Trump recent push to settle the conflict.

Before his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to promote the agreement to officials in Europe were described as chaotic.

His close ties with Vance, who he studied and maintains a close friendship, indicate the rising influence of the isolationist VP in negotiations to end the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Involvement in Ceasefire Negotiations

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

After a tumultuous initial year in power, international actions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a handful of Trump's key advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“Every objection of the peace framework the White House is working on either misunderstands the framework or misrepresents some key situation on the ground,” Vance stated.

Early Efforts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial efforts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while also seeking to renew relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his initial speeches, in which he accused them of running from their voters, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the new ceasefire proposal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the deal in the government, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a peace framework that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to produce a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from restarting.

“Peace will not be made by unsuccessful negotiators or officials residing in a dream world,” he added. “An agreement could be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his team with securing a signature on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Internal Concerns

That was a notably more full-throated support of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the administration who has gone from a shaky position inside the White House to more stable standing.

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

But, his first reaction to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of substantive and realistic ideas,” Rubio wrote recently. “Furthermore, achieving a durable ceasefire will necessitate each party to consent to difficult but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a set of potential ideas for resolving this conflict drawing from input from both sides of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the plan. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds said recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to explain that the deal was merely a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the White House.

“The Secretary made a call to us this afternoon and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a offer that was delivered to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “It is offered as a solid structure for ongoing discussions. It is based on feedback from the Moscow. But, it is also based on previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”