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America's Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the Trump administration latest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His strong relationship with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the forefront of President Trump's latest effort to settle the war.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or statesman, and his initial attempts to promote the agreement to European policymakers were labeled turbulent.

Driscoll's close ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist VP in negotiations to end the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Peace Efforts

This was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky initial visit to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to accept a quick deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a surrender.

Following a chaotic initial year in office, international actions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a handful of Trump's top advisers, including 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 plan, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every criticism of the peace framework the administration is working on either misunderstands the proposal or misstates some critical situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Initial Efforts and EU Responses

Vance's initial efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to renew ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and right-leaning views close to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the new ceasefire proposal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a ceasefire plan that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In posts this weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a truce that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the war from restarting.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by failed diplomats or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he continued. “An agreement could be made by intelligent people operating in the actual situation.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the presentation of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his staff with obtaining a signature on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Internal Concerns

That was a distinctly more full-throated support of the proposal than that expressed by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the government who has gone from a shaky position inside the White House to more firm standing.

Rubio was a member of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this past weekend to confer with Ukrainian officials to help moderate the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

But, his first response to the deal was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough exchange of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “And, achieving a lasting peace will require both sides to agree to challenging but essential compromises. That is why we are and will continue to develop a list of possible ideas for ending this war based on input from each party of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds said recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to clarify that the agreement was merely a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the administration.

“Rubio made a call to us this afternoon and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a offer that was delivered to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he subsequently stated. “The framework is presented as a solid structure for ongoing negotiations. It is based on input from the Russian side. But, it is also informed by previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”