🔗 Share this article

America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the White House's latest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His strong connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the center of Donald Trump latest push to conclude the conflict.

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

Driscoll's close ties with Vance, who he attended Yale and shares a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in talks to end the Ukraine war.

Vance's Role in Peace Efforts

It was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous first trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again pushing back against demands from the US to agree to a quick settlement that Ukrainian leaders have called a surrender.

Following a chaotic initial year in power, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a small group of Trump's top aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“Every objection of the peace framework the administration is working on either misinterprets the proposal or misstates some critical reality on the ground,” Vance stated.

Early Efforts and European Responses

Vance's initial attempts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to restore ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were angered by his initial speeches, in which he charged them of running from their constituents, who Vance said held anti-immigration and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the recently published ceasefire proposal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a peace framework that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to produce a truce that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to both sides, and prevent the war from restarting.

“Peace will not be made by unsuccessful negotiators or politicians residing in a dream world,” he added. “An agreement might be made by smart people living in the real world.”

It was Vance who continued on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his staff with obtaining a agreement on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more full-throated support of the plan than that expressed by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has transitioned from a shaky stature inside the White House to more stable footing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that traveled to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian officials to help moderate the initial 28-point peace plan in order to make it more acceptable to leaders in Kyiv.

However, his first reaction to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complicated and violent war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio wrote recently. “And, securing a lasting ceasefire will require each party to consent to challenging but necessary concessions. This is the reason we are and will continue to develop a list of possible solutions for resolving this conflict based on input from both sides of this conflict.”

In private, he was said to be much more doubtful of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called legislators 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 receivers of a offer that was delivered to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he later stated. “The framework is offered as a solid framework for ongoing discussions. The proposal is based on input from the Moscow. But, it is additionally informed by previous and current input from Ukraine.”