🔗 Share this article

America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the Trump administration latest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong connection with JD Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the forefront of President Trump's latest effort to settle the conflict.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or diplomat, and his initial attempts to sell the agreement to European policymakers were described as turbulent.

His strong ties with Vance, who he studied and shares a close friendship, indicate the rising influence of the non-interventionist vice-president in talks to end the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Negotiations

It was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky initial trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to accept a quick settlement that local officials have described as a surrender.

After a chaotic initial year in power, international actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a small group of Trump's key advisers, 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 latest plan, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“All criticism of the peace framework the White House is developing either misunderstands the framework or misrepresents some critical situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Initial Efforts and EU Reactions

Vance's early efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to restore relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, in turn, were irritated by his early remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the new peace deal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a truce that respected Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed negotiators or officials living in a dream world,” he continued. “An agreement might be made by intelligent people living in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who continued on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his team with securing a agreement on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Internal Doubts

Vance's stance was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the plan than that given by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the administration who has gone from a shaky position inside the White House to more stable standing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that went to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian leaders to help refine the initial 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 violent war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of substantive and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “Furthermore, achieving a durable ceasefire will require both sides to agree to challenging but necessary compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a set of potential solutions for ending this conflict drawing from feedback from each party of this conflict.”

In private, he was said to be much more doubtful of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to explain that the agreement was merely a initial offer from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“Rubio made a phone call to us this afternoon and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was presented to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “The framework is offered as a strong structure for ongoing discussions. It is based on input from the Moscow. But, it is also informed by earlier and current contributions from Ukraine.”