🔗 Share this article

America's Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the White House's newest proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine. His close connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the forefront of Donald Trump latest effort to settle the war.

Before his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or statesman, and his early attempts to promote the agreement to officials in Europe were described as turbulent.

Driscoll's strong relationship with Vance, who he studied and shares a personal bond, indicate the rising influence of the isolationist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Negotiations

This was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky initial visit to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is once again resisting demands from the US to accept a swift settlement that local officials have called a surrender.

Following a tumultuous first year in power, international actions in the White House are said to be influenced by a handful of Trump's top aides, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“All criticism of the ceasefire plan the White House is working on either misunderstands the framework or misstates some key reality on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Initial Efforts and EU Reactions

Vance's early efforts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while also seeking to renew relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were irritated by his early remarks, in which he charged them of running from their voters, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the new ceasefire proposal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a peace framework that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to establish a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to each party, and prevent the conflict from restarting.

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

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the introduction of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his staff with obtaining a signature on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Concerns

That was a distinctly more full-throated endorsement of the plan 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 position inside the White House to more firm footing.

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

However, his initial response to the deal was tepid:

“Stopping a complicated and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive discussion of substantive and realistic proposals,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “And, securing a durable ceasefire will necessitate both sides to consent to difficult but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will continue to create a list of potential ideas for resolving this conflict based on input from each party of this conflict.”

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

“The Secretary made a call to us this afternoon and I think he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was presented to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “It is offered as a solid structure for ongoing negotiations. The proposal is derived from input from the Moscow. But, it is also based on previous and current contributions from Ukraine.”