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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the Trump administration newest proposal to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong connection with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of Donald Trump recent push to settle the war.

Prior to his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or diplomat, and his early efforts to promote the deal to European policymakers were described as turbulent.

Driscoll's strong ties with Vance, who he attended Yale and shares a personal bond, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky first visit to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to agree to a quick deal that Ukrainian leaders have described as a capitulation.

After a chaotic initial year in power, international actions in the White House are said to be shaped by a small group of Trump's key advisers, such as top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“Every objection of the peace framework the White House is working on either misunderstands the framework or misrepresents some critical situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Initial Attempts and European Responses

Vance's early attempts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to renew ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were angered by his early remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their voters, who Vance said held anti-immigration and conservative views similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new peace deal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a ceasefire plan that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a truce that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to each party, and stop the war from resuming.

“A ceasefire will not be made by unsuccessful diplomats or politicians living in a dream world,” he added. “It could be made by smart people living in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the introduction of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his team with securing a signature on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Doubts

Vance's stance 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 conventional hardliner in the government who has gone from a shaky position inside the White House to more stable footing.

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

But, his first response to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complex and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of serious and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “And, achieving a durable peace will require both sides to agree to challenging but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will persist to create a set of potential solutions for ending this conflict drawing from feedback from each party of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to explain that the agreement was merely a initial proposal from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the White House.

“Rubio did make a call to us this afternoon and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was delivered to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “The framework is offered as a solid structure for continuing negotiations. The proposal is derived from input from the Moscow. However, it is also based on previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”