🔗 Share this article

The US Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the Trump administration newest proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. His strong connection with JD Vance has positioned a key ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the forefront of President Trump's recent push to settle the conflict.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or diplomat, and his early efforts to sell the deal to European policymakers were labeled turbulent.

His strong ties with Vance, who he studied and maintains a close friendship, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist vice-president in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's disastrous initial trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is once again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a swift deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a capitulation.

After a chaotic first year in office, foreign policy decisions in the White House are said to be influenced by a handful of Trump's top aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a vocal supporter of the latest proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All criticism of the peace framework the administration is developing either misunderstands the framework or misstates some critical reality on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Attempts and European Responses

Vance's initial attempts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. European officials, in turn, were angered by his early remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative positions similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the new ceasefire proposal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the deal in the government, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a peace framework that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the war from restarting.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by failed negotiators or officials living in a dream world,” he continued. “It could be made by smart people living in the real world.”

Additionally, 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 obtaining a agreement on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Internal Concerns

That was a notably more full-throated support of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat 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 standing.

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

But, his first response to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complicated and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough exchange of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “Furthermore, securing a lasting ceasefire will require both sides to consent to difficult but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will persist to develop a set of potential ideas for ending this war drawing from input from both sides of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more skeptical of the plan. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to clarify that the agreement was merely a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the administration.

“Rubio 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,” said Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he later stated. “The framework is presented as a strong structure for ongoing negotiations. It is derived from input from the Russian side. However, it is also based on previous and current contributions from Ukraine.”