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America's Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an surprising diplomat for the White House's latest proposal to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close connection with JD Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of Donald Trump recent effort to conclude the conflict.

Prior to his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or statesman, and his early efforts to sell the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled turbulent.

Driscoll's close ties with Vance, who he studied and maintains a personal bond, indicate the rising influence of the non-interventionist VP in negotiations to end the Ukraine war.

The VP's Involvement in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky initial trip to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a quick settlement that local officials have described as a capitulation.

Following a chaotic first year in power, international actions in the White House are said to be shaped by a handful of Trump's key aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a vocal advocate of the latest proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, together with the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All criticism of the ceasefire plan the White House is developing either misinterprets the framework or misrepresents some critical situation on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Early Attempts and European Responses

Vance's early efforts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to renew ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, in turn, were irritated by his early speeches, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning positions similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the recently published 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 accepting a peace framework that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to establish a truce that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the war from restarting.

“Peace won’t be made by failed negotiators or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he continued. “It might be made by intelligent people operating in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his staff with obtaining a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic endorsement of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the government who has gone from a uncertain stature inside the administration to more firm footing.

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

But, his initial reaction to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complicated and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of substantive and realistic ideas,” Rubio stated recently. “And, achieving a durable ceasefire will necessitate both sides to agree to challenging but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will continue to create a set of potential ideas for ending this war drawing from input from each party of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more skeptical of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated recently 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 advocated by the administration.

“The Secretary did make a phone 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 officials,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “It is presented as a solid structure for ongoing discussions. It is based on feedback from the Russian side. But, it is also informed by previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”