🔗 Share this article

America's Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the Trump administration newest initiative to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His strong connection with Vice President Vance has placed a close associate of the Euroskeptic VP at the center of Donald Trump latest effort to settle the war.

Before his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or statesman, and his initial efforts to promote the deal to European policymakers were described as turbulent.

Driscoll's strong relationship with Vance, who he studied and shares a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the isolationist VP in negotiations to end the Ukraine war.

Vance's Role in Peace Negotiations

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

Following a tumultuous initial year in power, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's key advisers, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a vocal supporter of the latest proposal, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All criticism of the ceasefire plan the White House is developing either misunderstands the framework or misrepresents some key situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Attempts and European Reactions

Vance's early efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to renew ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of running from their voters, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the recently published ceasefire proposal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a peace framework that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

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

“Peace won’t be made by failed negotiators or officials residing in a dream world,” he continued. “It might be made by smart people living in the actual situation.”

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

Rubio's Response and Private Concerns

That was a notably more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that given by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has gone from a shaky position inside the administration to more stable footing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this past 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.

However, his initial response to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complicated and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough exchange of substantive and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, achieving a lasting peace will necessitate each party to agree to difficult but essential concessions. This is the reason we are and will continue to develop a list of possible solutions for resolving this conflict based on feedback from both sides of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more doubtful of the proposal. 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 preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“Rubio made a phone call to us this day and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was presented to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “It 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 subsequently stated. “The framework is offered as a solid structure for continuing negotiations. The proposal is based on input from the Moscow. But, it is additionally based on earlier and current contributions from Ukraine.”