🔗 Share this article

The US Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the Trump administration latest proposal to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close relationship with JD Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's recent effort to conclude the war.

Prior to his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or statesman, and his initial efforts to sell the deal to officials in Europe were described as turbulent.

Driscoll's strong ties with Vance, who he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the isolationist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Involvement in Peace Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's rocky initial visit to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to agree to a quick settlement that Ukrainian leaders have called 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 key aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a vocal advocate of the recent proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every criticism of the peace framework the White House is working on either misunderstands the framework or misstates some key situation on the ground,” Vance stated.

Initial Efforts and European Responses

Vance's initial 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 interlocutors. European officials, meanwhile, were irritated by his early remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning views similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

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

In posts this weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to each party, and stop the war from restarting.

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed negotiators or officials living in a dream world,” he added. “An agreement might be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

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 securing a agreement on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Private Concerns

Vance's stance was a notably more enthusiastic endorsement of the plan than that given by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more firm footing.

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

But, his first reaction to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complicated and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough exchange of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, securing a durable peace 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 solutions for resolving this war based on feedback from each party of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more doubtful of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to clarify that the deal was merely a initial proposal from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the administration.

“The Secretary did make a call to us this day and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a offer that was presented to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he later stated. “The framework is presented as a solid structure for ongoing discussions. It is derived from feedback from the Moscow. However, it is additionally informed by previous and current input from Ukraine.”