🔗 Share this article

America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the Trump administration latest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. His strong relationship with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's recent push to settle the conflict.

Before his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or diplomat, and his initial attempts to sell the deal to European policymakers were described as chaotic.

His strong ties with Vance, who he studied and maintains a personal bond, signal the rising influence of the isolationist vice-president in talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Role in Peace Negotiations

This was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky first visit to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is again resisting pressure from the US to accept a quick settlement that local officials have described as a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous initial year in power, international actions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a small group of Trump's top aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken supporter of the recent proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misunderstands the framework or misstates some critical situation on the ground,” Vance stated.

Early Efforts and EU Responses

Vance's early attempts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while also seeking to restore ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, 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 supporters.

However, the new peace deal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a peace framework that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to produce a truce that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to both sides, and prevent the war from resuming.

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed diplomats or politicians living in a dream world,” he added. “It might be made by smart people living in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who continued 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 prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Private Concerns

That was a distinctly more enthusiastic support 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 uncertain position inside the White House 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 initial 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

But, his initial response to the deal was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “Furthermore, achieving a durable ceasefire will necessitate both sides to consent to difficult but essential concessions. That is why we are and will continue to create a set of possible ideas for resolving this conflict drawing from input from each party of this conflict.”

In private, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to clarify that the deal was just a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the White House.

“The Secretary did make a phone call to us this day and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he later stated. “It is offered as a strong framework for ongoing discussions. It is based on input from the Russian side. But, it is also informed by earlier and current input from Ukraine.”