🔗 Share this article

The US Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an surprising diplomat for the White House's newest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close connection with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Euroskeptic VP at the center of Donald Trump latest push to conclude the conflict.

Prior to his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial attempts to sell the agreement to officials in Europe were described as turbulent.

His strong relationship with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and maintains a close friendship, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Role in Peace Negotiations

This was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky initial trip to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again resisting demands from the US to agree to a quick deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a surrender.

Following a chaotic first year in power, international decisions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a handful of Trump's top aides, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a vocal advocate of the latest plan, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the White House is developing either misinterprets the framework or misstates some critical reality on the ground,” Vance stated.

Early Efforts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial attempts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to restore relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were angered by his early remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and right-leaning 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 forceful advocates for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In posts this past weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“Peace won’t be made by failed diplomats or officials living in a dream world,” he continued. “It could be made by intelligent people living in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who continued on the introduction of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his team with securing a signature on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Internal Doubts

That was a notably more enthusiastic endorsement of the plan than that expressed 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 administration to more stable footing.

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

But, his first response to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, achieving a durable ceasefire will require both sides to agree to difficult but essential concessions. That is why we are and will persist to develop a list of possible solutions for ending this war drawing from feedback from each party of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to clarify that the deal was just a initial 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 emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a offer that was presented to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he later wrote. “It is offered as a solid framework for ongoing negotiations. The proposal is derived from feedback from the Moscow. But, it is additionally informed by previous and current contributions from Ukraine.”