🔗 Share this article

The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the White House's latest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His strong relationship with Vice President Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the center of President Trump's recent effort to settle the war.

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

Driscoll's close relationship with Vance, who he studied and shares a close friendship, signal the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in negotiations to end the Ukraine war.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Negotiations

It was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky first trip to the 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 described as a surrender.

After a chaotic initial year in power, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's top advisers, including top aide Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“All criticism of the peace framework the White House is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some key reality on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Efforts and EU Responses

Vance's early efforts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to restore relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, in turn, were angered by his early speeches, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance said held anti-immigration and conservative positions similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the recently published peace deal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a truce that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to each party, and stop the war from restarting.

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

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his staff with securing a signature on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Internal Concerns

That was a notably more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that expressed by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the government who has transitioned from a shaky stature inside the White House to more stable footing.

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 leaders in Kyiv.

However, his first reaction to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complicated and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough exchange of substantive and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, securing a durable peace will necessitate each party to agree to challenging but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will continue to create a list of possible solutions for ending this war based on input from both sides of this conflict.”

In private, he was said to be much more skeptical of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to explain that the agreement was just a initial proposal from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the administration.

“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 delivered to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he later stated. “The framework is presented as a strong framework for continuing discussions. The proposal is derived from feedback from the Russian side. However, it is also informed by earlier and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”