🔗 Share this article

The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the White House's latest proposal to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close connection with Vice President Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the center of Donald Trump recent effort to conclude the conflict.

Before his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his early efforts to promote the deal to officials in Europe were labeled turbulent.

His strong ties with Vance, with whom he studied and shares a close friendship, signal the rising influence of the non-interventionist vice-president in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Involvement in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous initial visit to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to agree to a quick settlement that Ukrainian leaders have called a surrender.

Following a tumultuous first year in power, international decisions in the White House are said to be shaped by a small group of Trump's key aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken supporter of the latest plan, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside the Kremlin envoy 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 Attempts and European Responses

Vance's early efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. European officials, in turn, were angered by his early remarks, in which he charged them of running from their constituents, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and conservative positions similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new peace deal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable 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. “It might be made by intelligent people living in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the presentation of the peace plan in a phone call 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.

Rubio's Reaction and Internal Concerns

That was a distinctly more enthusiastic endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has gone from a shaky stature inside the administration to more firm standing.

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

But, his first reaction to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complicated and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive discussion of substantive and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, achieving a durable peace will necessitate both sides to consent to challenging but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will persist to create a list of possible solutions for ending this war drawing from input from both sides of this war.”

In private, he was said to be much more doubtful of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to explain that the agreement was merely a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the administration.

“The Secretary made a phone call to us this afternoon and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a offer 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 fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “It is presented as a strong framework for continuing discussions. The proposal is derived from input from the Moscow. However, it is also based on earlier and current input from Ukraine.”