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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the White House's newest proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. His strong relationship with JD Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the center of Donald Trump recent effort to settle the war.

Before his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or statesman, and his early attempts to promote the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled turbulent.

Driscoll's strong relationship with Vance, who he attended Yale and shares a close friendship, signal the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Negotiations

It was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous first trip to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to agree to a swift deal that local officials have called a surrender.

After a chaotic initial year in power, international decisions in the White House are said to be shaped by a small group of Trump's key advisers, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some key reality on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Attempts and European Responses

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to restore relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, meanwhile, were angered by his early speeches, in which he charged them of running from their constituents, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and right-leaning views similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the recently published ceasefire proposal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a peace framework that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In posts this past weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to produce a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to each party, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed negotiators or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he added. “An agreement might be made by smart people operating in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who continued on the introduction of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his staff with securing a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Private Concerns

Vance's stance was a notably more full-throated support of the proposal than that expressed by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has gone from a shaky position inside the White House to more firm standing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that traveled to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian leaders to help refine the initial 28-point peace plan in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

But, his first reaction to the agreement was tepid:

“Ending a complicated and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive discussion of substantive and realistic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “And, securing a lasting ceasefire will require each party to consent to challenging but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will persist to create a list of possible ideas for resolving this war based on input from both sides of this war.”

In private, he was said to be much more skeptical of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to explain that the agreement was just a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the administration.

“The Secretary made a call to us this afternoon 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 officials,” stated Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “The framework is offered as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations. It is based on input from the Moscow. But, it is additionally informed by previous and current contributions from Ukraine.”