🔗 Share this article

America's Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the Trump administration latest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. His close relationship with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's recent push to conclude the conflict.

Prior to his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or diplomat, and his early efforts to sell the agreement to European policymakers were labeled turbulent.

Driscoll's close relationship with Vance, who he studied and maintains a close friendship, indicate the rising influence of the non-interventionist VP in talks to end the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Negotiations

This was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous first trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is again resisting demands from the US to accept a swift settlement that Ukrainian leaders have called a surrender.

After a tumultuous first year in power, international actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's key aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the latest proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All objection of the peace framework the White House is working on either misunderstands the framework or misstates some critical reality on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Attempts and EU Responses

Vance's initial efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to restore relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, in turn, were irritated by his early speeches, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance said held anti-immigration and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the recently published peace deal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a peace framework that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a truce that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the war from resuming.

“Peace won’t be made by failed negotiators or politicians living in a fantasy land,” he added. “An agreement could be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his staff with obtaining a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a notably more enthusiastic support of the plan than that expressed 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 White House to more stable footing.

Rubio was part of a US team that traveled to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help refine the initial 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more acceptable to leaders in Kyiv.

However, his initial response to the agreement was tepid:

“Stopping a complex and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of serious and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “Furthermore, securing a durable ceasefire will require each party to consent to challenging but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will persist to develop 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 clarify that the deal was just a initial offer from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the administration.

“Rubio made a call to us this afternoon and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was delivered to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he subsequently stated. “The framework is offered as a solid framework for ongoing negotiations. It is derived from input from the Russian side. However, it is also based on earlier and current input from Ukraine.”