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The US Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the White House's newest proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong connection with JD Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the forefront of President Trump's recent effort to settle the conflict.

Before his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to promote the deal to officials in Europe were described as chaotic.

His strong relationship with Vance, who he studied and maintains a personal bond, signal the rising influence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Peace Negotiations

This was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's disastrous initial visit to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is once again pushing back against demands from the US to accept a quick deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a capitulation.

After a chaotic initial year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are said to be influenced by a handful of Trump's top aides, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a vocal supporter of the recent plan, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“All objection of the peace framework the administration is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some critical situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Efforts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance said held restrictionist and conservative views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new peace deal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the agreement 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 weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to each party, and stop the conflict from restarting.

“Peace won’t be made by unsuccessful negotiators or politicians living in a dream world,” he continued. “It could be made by intelligent people operating in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his staff with securing a signature on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more full-throated endorsement of the plan than that expressed by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the government who has gone from a shaky stature inside the White House to more firm standing.

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

However, his first reaction to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complicated and violent war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive discussion of substantive and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, securing a lasting peace will necessitate both sides to consent to difficult but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a list of potential solutions for ending this conflict drawing from feedback from each party of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to explain that the agreement was merely a initial proposal from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the White House.

“The Secretary did make a phone call to us this afternoon and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was presented to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he later stated. “It is offered as a solid framework for ongoing discussions. It is derived from feedback from the Moscow. But, it is additionally based on earlier and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”