🔗 Share this article

The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the White House's newest proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the center of Donald Trump latest push to conclude the war.

Before his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial attempts to sell the deal to European policymakers were described as chaotic.

Driscoll's close ties with Vance, who he studied and shares a close friendship, signal the rising influence of the isolationist VP in talks to end the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Efforts

This was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky initial trip to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is again resisting pressure from the US to agree to a quick deal that local officials have called a capitulation.

After a chaotic first year in office, international decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's top advisers, including top aide Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate 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 ceasefire plan the White House is working on either misunderstands the proposal or misstates some key reality on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Initial Efforts and EU Reactions

Vance's early efforts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to restore relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, meanwhile, were irritated by his early remarks, in which he charged 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 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 endorsing a peace framework that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In posts this weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to establish a truce that respected Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the conflict from restarting.

“Peace will not be made by unsuccessful negotiators or politicians residing in a dream world,” he added. “It could be made by smart people living in the real world.”

It was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his team with securing a signature on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Internal Concerns

That was a notably more enthusiastic endorsement of the plan than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a shaky position inside the administration to more stable standing.

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

But, his initial response to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complex and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive discussion of substantive and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “And, securing a lasting peace will necessitate each party to agree to difficult but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to create a set of potential solutions for resolving this war drawing from feedback from each party of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the plan. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to explain that the agreement was merely a initial offer from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the White House.

“The Secretary made a phone call to us this day 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,” stated Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he later wrote. “The framework is offered as a strong structure for ongoing discussions. The proposal is based on input from the Moscow. But, it is also based on previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”