🔗 Share this article

America's Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the Trump administration latest initiative to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His strong connection with JD Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the center of President Trump's latest effort to conclude the war.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or statesman, and his initial efforts to promote the agreement to European policymakers were labeled turbulent.

His strong relationship with Vance, who he studied and maintains a close friendship, signal the resurgence of the non-interventionist vice-president in negotiations to end the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Negotiations

This was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky first visit to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to agree to a quick settlement that local officials have called a surrender.

After a tumultuous first year in power, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a small group of Trump's top aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“All objection of the ceasefire plan the White House is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misstates some critical reality on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Efforts and European Responses

Vance's initial efforts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to restore ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their voters, who Vance said held anti-immigration and right-leaning views similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, 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 under fire for endorsing a peace framework that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

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

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

It was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his team with obtaining a agreement on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has gone from a shaky stature inside the White House to more firm footing.

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

But, his initial response to the deal was tepid:

“Stopping a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of substantive and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “Furthermore, securing a durable peace will require each party to agree to difficult but essential compromises. That is why we are and will persist to create a list of possible ideas for resolving this war drawing from input from both sides of this war.”

In private, he was said to be much more skeptical of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to explain that the agreement was merely a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the administration.

“Rubio did make a 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 presented to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “The framework is presented as a solid structure for continuing negotiations. The proposal is based on feedback from the Russian side. However, it is additionally based on previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”