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The US Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the White House's latest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong connection with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the forefront of Donald Trump latest effort to conclude the war.

Prior to his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or statesman, and his initial efforts to promote the deal to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

Driscoll's close ties with Vance, with whom he studied and shares a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the isolationist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Negotiations

This was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's disastrous initial trip to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to agree to a swift deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a surrender.

After a tumultuous first year in office, international actions in the White House are said to be shaped by a small group of Trump's top advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“All criticism of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misunderstands the framework or misstates some critical reality on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Initial Attempts and European Responses

Vance's initial efforts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to renew ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, in turn, were angered by his early speeches, in which he charged them of running from their voters, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, 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 under fire for endorsing a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from restarting.

“Peace won’t be made by failed negotiators or officials residing in a dream world,” he added. “It might be made by smart people living in the real world.”

It was Vance who continued on the presentation of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his team with obtaining a signature on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Private Concerns

Vance's stance was a notably more full-throated support of the proposal than that given by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the government who has gone from a uncertain position inside the White House to more stable standing.

Rubio was part of a US team that traveled to Geneva this past weekend to meet with Ukrainian leaders to help moderate the initial 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more acceptable to leaders in Kyiv.

But, his initial reaction to the agreement was tepid:

“Stopping a complicated and violent war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive discussion of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated recently. “And, achieving a lasting ceasefire will necessitate each party to consent to difficult but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a set of possible ideas for ending this conflict drawing from feedback from both sides of this conflict.”

In private, he was said to be much more doubtful of the plan. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to clarify that the deal was just a initial offer from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the White House.

“The Secretary made a call to us this day and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was delivered to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he later wrote. “The framework is presented as a strong structure for continuing discussions. It is based on feedback from the Moscow. However, it is additionally based on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.”