🔗 Share this article

The US Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the White House's latest initiative to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's close relationship with JD Vance has positioned a key ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of President Trump's latest effort to conclude the conflict.

Before his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to promote the deal to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

His close relationship with Vance, who he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Involvement in Peace Efforts

This was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous initial visit to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is again resisting pressure from the US to accept a quick deal that local officials have called a capitulation.

Following a chaotic first year in office, foreign policy decisions in the White House are said to be shaped by a handful of Trump's top advisers, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course 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.

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the White House is working on either misunderstands the framework or misstates some critical reality on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Attempts and European Reactions

Vance's initial efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to restore relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, in turn, were angered by his early speeches, in which he charged them of running from their voters, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and conservative positions similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the recently published ceasefire proposal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In posts this past weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to produce a truce that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to each party, and prevent the war from restarting.

“Peace won’t be made by unsuccessful negotiators or officials residing in a dream world,” he continued. “It might be made by smart people operating in the actual situation.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his team with securing a agreement on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Private Concerns

That was a notably more enthusiastic endorsement of the plan than that expressed by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the administration who has gone from a shaky stature inside the White House to more stable standing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help moderate the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

But, his first response to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complex and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough exchange of substantive and realistic ideas,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “And, achieving a lasting peace will necessitate each party to agree to challenging but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to create a list of possible ideas for resolving this war based on input from each party of this war.”

In private, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to explain that the agreement was just a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the White House.

“Rubio made a call to us this day 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 acted swiftly to align himself. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he subsequently stated. “It is presented as a solid structure for ongoing discussions. The proposal is derived from feedback from the Russian side. However, it is also based on previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”